Season 2 Rewritten
by Lauriverfanboy1
Summary: Sequel to Arrow Rewritten. It's been 6 months since the Undertaking was stopped, but Starling City is still in crisis. Especially when a dangerous enemy from Oliver and Laurel's past comes back to haunt them. Both new friends and enemies and will appear and new circumstances will happen. Pairings are Lauriver, Tommy/Sara, John/Lyla and Roy/Thea. Possible Flash crossovers involved.
1. Chapter 1

Oliver was currently standing in Star labs, observing his sister, who still hadn't shown any sign of improvement, but at the same time, her condition also had not deteriorated either.

"Thank you for letting us treat her." Dr. Wells said as he approached Oliver.

"Thank you for keeping her alive, and for all your discretion with the other thing." Oliver said, since Wells and his team, which was currently made up of himself, Dr. Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon, knew about their double lives, since the same explosion that had put Thea in a coma had given Laurel some sort of power, a sonic cry, so Star Labs was also helping train her to use her power. Cisco had also taken it upon himself to create new suits for Oliver and Laurel.

"Our pleasure, considering you 2 saved this city, the least we can do is respect the privacy of your identities." Wells said.

"Have you come any closer to figuring out how to wake her up?" Oliver asked.

"Dr. Snow is working on it and we believe we might be close. Or well closer than we are to our other patient." Dr. Wells said, referring to the man lying next to Thea.

Oliver nodded and thanked him as his phone went off.

"I have to go, please, update me if there's any change in her condition." Oliver said and Wells nodded as Oliver walked away.

* * *

"Thank you all for coming. As you know, while the Undertaking may have been stopped, my family still owes this city a debt for the role it played in trying to destroy it. But today, I hope to begin paying off that debt. By announcing the creation of the Queen Cares Foundation. A program designed to revitalize the Glades by providing free job training for adults, along with recreational programs for kids to help them better focus their talents into more creative and product outlets. Hopefully, this program will help to minimize crime in the Glades and help the people who live there see a brighter tomorrow." Oliver said in front of the press, who all clapped as he walked away, towards Walter, who was smiling at his former stepson.

"Well done Oliver. Well done." Walter said.

"Thank you Walter. And thank you for getting the board to go along with this plan." Oliver said.

"It wasn't that hard honestly. Along with being a good way to help the people in the Glades, the board saw this as a way to get some good PR for Queen Consolidated." Walter said.

"That wasn't my intention, but it is an added bonus." Oliver said.

"Your father would be proud of you." Robert said.

"I hope so." Oliver said.

"Has there been any change in Thea's condition?" Walter asked.

"I was just there before I came here. No change." Oliver said and Walter nodded.

"I think that your mother would like an update as well." Walter said.

"I'd much rather visit her when there's an actual update to give her on Thea." Oliver said and Walter nodded.

"I don't mean to sound nosy, but what about you and Ms. Lance?" Walter asked and Oliver laughed.

"Are you sure that the divorce was finalized because you seem to be acting a lot like my father right now." Oliver said.

"You were always like a son to me Oliver and with Robert gone, I think he'd want someone to provide that sort of influence in your life." Walter said and Oliver chuckled.

"Laurel and I are great. Still going strong." Oliver said.

"Think you might make it official." Walter asked.

"Once Thea wakes up, yeah, but right now, I'm a bit too concerned about her." Oliver said and Walter nodded in understanding.

* * *

Sara had graduated from medical school and now she worked at Glades Memorial as a general practitioner, since she felt like the Glades were probably where she could do more good, but right now, she was on her way home, ready to drop.

"Hey baby." Tommy said as Sara entered their apartment.

"Hey. How was work?" Sara asked, since Tommy had taken control of Merlyn Global.

"Not good. Unlike Oliver over at Queen Consolidated, I am having a much harder time turning Merlyn Global's PR problem around, we lose more investors every day and we're facing a takeover by Stellmoor industries." Tommy said as he sat down on the couch and Sara dropped into his arms.

"Maybe you should see if Oliver can help with that?" Sara asked.

"No, he has enough on his plate between the club, the Queen Cares Foundation, his mother being in prison, Thea being in a coma and him and Laurel trying to keep the streets safe to worry about my company." Tommy said before turning the subject over to her.

"So how was work for you?" Tommy asked.

"Well, while I love the patients and actual work, the doctors there drive me crazy. I swear I get no respect from them." Sara said.

"Well, what if you were the boss?" Tommy asked.

"Tommy, please tell me you did not buy Glades Memorial just so I could be the boss?" Sara asked and Tommy chuckled.

"Relax, no. Actually, my company's big save is that I finally managed to get my mom's old medical clinic in the Glades up and running again and I'd like you to run it." Tommy said.

"Wait, what?" Sara asked.

"We'd be providing free basic medical care to the denizens of the Glades, just like mom did and you could run it all, especially since you've been trained to help with metahumans." Tommy said, since after they'd discovered Laurel was a metahuman, Sara had been taught how to better treat metas by Caitlin Snow.

"Are you sure about this Tommy?" Sara asked.

"I insist." Tommy said.

"Okay then." Sara said.

* * *

Oliver and Laurel were currently attending an event that the mayor was holding at City Hall and they were speaking with him and Laurel's new boss at the DA's office, Adam Donner, since while she could've kept working at CNRI, the number of cases she'd won in the one year she'd been practicing law had caused the DA's office to sweep her up and Laurel had accepted the job easily.

"Wasn't our country founded on a brand of vigilantism, Mr. Donner? The revolutionaries in the Boston Tea Party were certainly choosing justice over law." the mayor said, surprising Oliver and Laurel that the mayor was defending them.

"I'd hardly compare our founding fathers to the Hood or the Canary, Mr. Mayor, or these twisted copycats who have risen in their wake." Adam said.

"Ms. Lance. What do you think about vigilantes?" The mayor asked Laurel.

"I'd be foolish to disagree with my new boss." Laurel said and Adam smiled.

"I knew I was smart to hire you." Adam said.

"I'd heard you joined the district attorney's office." the mayor said and Laurel nodded.

"It was time for a change. While I loved working at CNRI, I feel like I can do more good in the DA's office." Laurel said.

"What about you Mr. Queen? What's your stance on the vigilantes?" Adam asked.

"I think that while what they do may be illegal, it might also be necessary, since it was the vigilantes who stopped Malcolm Merlyn's earthquake machine." Oliver said.

"Changing the topic, Oliver, I wanted to thank you for your initiative in helping people in the Glades." the mayor said.

"It's my pleasure really. The people in the Glades are just like you and me, so there's no reason that they shouldn't be treated as such." Oliver said.

Before the Mayor could respond, the Hoods, as the media was calling them, burst in and started shooting.

"You have failed this city, Mr. Mayor! The Glades descended into hell on your watch! You swore to protect all the citizens of Starling, not just the wealthy!" the leader said.

"We're sorry about this, folks. We'll have this sorted out in just a minute." the mayor tried to calm things down, only to be shot in the chest.

"We are the Hoods. And what was taken from us, we will take back." the leader said as the room descended into chaos.


	2. Chapter 2

"Laurel, are you okay?" Quentin asked as he entered the room where the benefit had been.

"Yeah, I'm fine. They seemed to only be targeting the mayor." Laurel said.

"Thank god, what were you even doing here?" Quentin asked.

"You didn't tell him about your new job?" Oliver asked Laurel, who shook her head.

"No. I work for the DA's office now dad. My boss invited me here." Laurel said.

"Okay, why didn't you tell me this?" Quentin asked.

"We haven't spoken in months. Why would I start now?" Laurel asked, making it clear that she wasn't ready to drop her anger at her father before walking away.

"Look I know you don't want to hear, but you mind if I offer you some advice with her, since we both know how stubborn she can be when she's angry." Oliver said.

"Fine. What?" Quentin asked.

"Stop acting an enemy and start acting like a father. I remember that before all this madness started, before the Gambit, you and Laurel were pretty close. Sure you never approved of her dating me, but you still never pissed her off enough that she'd cut you out of her life. Maybe once you start acting like her father again, she'll start acting a like daughter. And we've been back for over a year now and you still haven't even asked her how she was dealing with everything. Maybe instead of spending your time thinking of ways to blame me for ruining your life, you could do that trying to figure out how to fix things with Laurel." Oliver said as he walked away.

* * *

"I heard about what happened, are you guys alright?" Sara asked as Oliver, Laurel and John entered the foundry.

"We're fine. A little pissed off, but aside from that, we're fine." Laurel said.

"What did the Hoods mean about the Glades? I thought no one was hurt in the Undertaking?" Oliver asked.

"In the Undertaking no because you guys stopped it. However, the chaos and panic that it caused is another story. Crime in the Glades is that an all time high." Sara said, since she was the only who was actually in the Glades all the time.

"She's right and the cops aren't doing much about it." Laurel said.

"Neither are you guys. You've barely gone out since the night you stopped Malcolm. This city needs you." Sara said.

"Sara, like we keep saying, our gear was destroyed in our fight with Merlyn and Cisco said that he'd make us new gear, but he hasn't come through yet. Plus, I'm still working on mastering my powers." Laurel said as Oliver's phone rang.

"Hello." Oliver said.

"Oliver, it's Cisco. How soon can you and Laurel get to Star Labs?" Cisco asked.

"We're on our way." Oliver said as he hung up.

"Who was that?" Laurel asked.

"It was Cisco. He needs us as STAR Labs now." Oliver said.

"Let's go." Laurel said, hoping that their new gear was finally done.

* * *

"So, why'd you want to see us?" Oliver asked.

"Well for one thing, your suits are finally done and for another." Cisco said as Thea walked up to them.

"Hi Ollie." Thea said as she hugged her big brother.

"Hey Speedy." Oliver said relieved.

"You woke her up." Laurel said.

"We did, and, Thea, show them." Cisco said and Thea nodded as she held out her hand, which turned to water before it turned back.

"Okay, how'd you do that?" Oliver asked as Dr. Wells approached them.

"It appears that when the Dark matter energy hit your sister, it bonded her molecules with the water that she'd crashed into and altered her DNA, giving her hydrokinetic powers." Dr. Wells said and Oliver looked at him blankly.

"It means that Thea can control, manipulate and even create water from her body's own increased supply of it. It's complicated." Cisco said.

"Okay, moving on. You said our suits were done." Laurel said and Cisco nodded.

"Yep. Well, for you and Oliver anyways. We're going to have run some tests on Thea and figure out the extent of her powers before she can get a suit." Cisco said as he led them to what was called the Cortex, where 2 mannequins covered by tarps were set up.

"Voila." Cisco said as he pulled off the tarps to reveal the new suits.

Oliver's new suit looked like a more armored and leather version of his old suit in a darker green. The sleeves looked like they were made of kevlar and lining the suit's shoulders straps are several miniature canisters that looked like they could all contain different agents for numerous situations and on the back was a new and upgraded quiver along with unlike the Hood suit, this one had a green mask.

"I also took the liberty of making you this." Cisco said as he handed Oliver a new compound bow.

"Nice." Oliver said.

"Did I get the balance right?" Cisco asked.

"Perfectly.

Laurel's suit on the other hand looked completely different from her old Canary suit, as this one was much sleeker and looked like it was a black leather suit with elbow length gloves, short scaled sleeves, and yellow piping, along with a yellow disk on at the waist that had a black bird similar to the one on Laurel's necklace on it and around the neck was some sort of high tech collar.

"What's the collar for?" Laurel asked.

"I designed that to help you with your powers. The collar can help you focus your sonic cry and it should bypass any tech a bad guy brings to disable your powers." Cisco said.

"Sick." Laurel said with a grin.

"Well, let's get to work." Oliver said.

"So the Hood and the Canary are back in the game?" Thea asked.

"No, we've decided on new names." Laurel said.

* * *

The hoods were currently gathered in the Church of Blood, planning their next move when suddenly an arrow was fired into the room.

They turned to see 2 figures standing in the window sill.

"Where you guys been? And what's with the new threads?" The leader, Aglin, asked.

"We're not who you think we are." the man said as he leaped down.

"So, you expect us to believe you're not the Hood." another guy, Jeff Deveau, asked.

"No. I'm the Green Arrow." he said as he fired another arrow as the other person jumped down and began twirling her bo staff.

"And who are you?" one of the other guys, Baker, asked.

"The Black Canary." she responded before taking him and the last guy, Colton, out.

* * *

While I know that it wasn't Laurel's suit that I described, I felt like Dinah's Black Canary suit is basically all the improvements Cisco would've made to Laurel's suit, if he'd gotten the chance, since he never made Laurel's suit and I'm pretty sure that he's the one who made Dinah's new suit.


	3. Chapter 3

Oliver and Thea were currently sitting at a table in Iron Heights, waiting for the guard to bring their mother out.

"Mom." Thea said when her mother came into view.

"Thea. You're awake." Moira said, tears of relief coming to her eyes.

"Yeah mom, I'm fine." Thea said as Moira sat down across from them.

"Your brother has kept me updated on the outside world when he visits, but he hasn't done that lately until now." Moira said, looking at Oliver.

"I knew you'd ask about Thea and I didn't want to tell you anything until there was actually something to tell." Oliver said and Moira nodded in acceptance of that answer.

"I'm a little surprised that you came to see me Thea. I thought you would still be mad at me." Moira said.

"6 months in a coma gives one plenty of time to think. I realized that it wasn't your fault, you were being blackmailed into helping Malcolm, and besides, your warning may have been what gave the vigilantes time to respond to stop it." Thea said.

"You mean your brother and Laurel?" Moira asked with a knowing smile.

"How did you know?" Oliver asked.

"I'm not an idiot Oliver. Your passion for stopping Malcolm, plus the fact that the vigilantes showed up around the same time that you and Laurel came back, I'm surprised more people haven't figured it out yet." Moira said.

"But you're not mad?" Oliver asked.

"Well, I'm mad that you told your sister and not me, but as for you being the vigilante, Oliver, I could not be prouder of you. You are a better man than your father was and a better person than I could ever be." Moira said with a smile and Oliver actually had a few tears in his eye at hearing that.

"How are things at Queen Consolidated?" Moira asked, changing the subject.

"Good actually. I finally got the board to approve my Queen Cares initiative and it turns out to have been exactly what the company needed to turn around our stock price. I swear, it's barely been a week since I announced the program to the world, and we've already got both new and old investors wanting to contribute." Oliver said with a smile

"Well I'm glad to hear that you're taking a role in the company after all." Moira said and Oliver nodded.

"Yeah, Walter's also been teaching me more about the business on the off chance that I might one day want to take over as the CEO." Oliver said.

"What about you and Laurel?" Moira asked.

"We're still going strong and we finally managed to sell our loft." Oliver said.

"You're moving out of the loft?" Moira asked.

"Into the mansion actually. It's been abandoned for months since you're in here, Thea's been in a coma and Walter moved out after the divorce." Oliver said and Moira nodded.

"Are you planning on taking the next step with her now?" Moira asked and Oliver nodded.

"Yeah, I just have to figure out the right way to ask her, since the last time I planned to propose, the Gambit went down." Oliver said.

"Wait, you never said that you were going to propose to Laurel on the Gambit?" Thea asked.

"You couldn't keep a secret to save your life Speedy. I didn't want her to find out. Especially since we didn't have her father's blessing and probably never will." Oliver said and Thea just rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, I wish you the best of luck on that Oliver. Laurel was always my favorite of your relationships." Moira said.

"Mine to. She's the one person I've ever been with who actually liked me for me and not my money." Oliver said.

"Anyways, Thea, what about you?" Moira asked.

"I've only been awake for 2 days. Not enough time to get a boyfriend, especially when I have to finish catching on the last of my schoolwork in order to get my diploma." Thea said and Moira nodded as Oliver's phone buzzed.

"I have to take this." Oliver said as he got up and left.

"Talk to me." Oliver said.

"You know how Sara told us that the FEMA medical shipments to Glades Memorial are being hijacked." Laurel asked.

"Rings a bell. Well I think our old friends in the Triad are behind it." Laurel said.

"No word from Argus on China White?" Oliver asked.

"Not that Dig's heard from Lyla." Laurel said.

"I'm on way." Oliver said.

* * *

"So, what do we know?" Oliver asked.

"Not much. What the Triad is doing stealing medicine, I don't know, but it can't be good, however, I think I got the next best thing. A way to track them down." Laurel said.

"How?" Oliver asked.

"The next FEMA shipment arrives in Starling city in 12 hours. 10 bucks says the Triad will there waiting for it." Laurel said.

"And we'll be ready when they do. Get ahold of Diggle, we'll need him watching our backs out there." Oliver said.

"If he's going to start joining us in the field, shouldn't he have a uniform? After all, he is a soldier and it feels like we're fighting a war." Laurel said with a smile.

"You want John to wear a costume, as he calls our suits, you take that up with him. In the meantime, we need to focus on this." Oliver said.

"What about Thea? Couldn't hurt to have another pair of hands on this. Especially hands that can control water at will." Laurel said.

"Thea's still too inexperienced with her powers. She needs more time and training." Oliver said.

"Can't argue with that." Laurel agreed as she a look around the foundry.

"Too bad there isn't exactly space down here for that. Between the computers Cisco insisted on upgrading us with, Sara's medical station and the armory, we don't really have room for a metahuman training area and it'll raise too much suspicion if Thea keeps going to Star Labs." Laurel said and Oliver nodded.

"I know, we need a bigger space." Oliver said.

"Something tells me that you're already doing something about that and you don't plan on telling me." Laurel said.

"Remember those old caves under the Queen Estate we find when we were kids?" Oliver asked.

"Those would provide plenty of room, that is, if we can convert them." Laurel said.

"Cisco already working on the plans for that. But in the meantime, see if you can pull up anymore data on these FEMA heists. If Chien Na Wei is stealing medical supplies then I want to know why." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

After stopping the Triad, though Chien Na Wei had escaped thanks to an untimely arrival of the SCPD, Oliver, Laurel and John all came down to the foundry, or rather, Oliver and Laurel were carrying John down, since he'd gotten pretty banged up in the fight.

"Sara, are you ready?" Oliver asked and Sara nodded as they put Dig down on the medical table.

"Let me do my thing." Sara said as she went into doctor mode.

* * *

"You're lucky to be alive John. A few feet higher and I'd amputating your arm right now." Sara said as she finished patching up Dig's arm.

"What's the diagnosis?" John asked.

"2 weeks of recovery and then if you insist on continuing to join Oliver and Laurel in field, you're gonna have to get something that provides actual protection." Sara said.

"What, I have to get a superhero costume?" John asked.

"Might not be the worst idea John. After all, you still your sister-in-law, your nephew and your parents to worry about. Part of the reason Laurel and I wear masks are to keep our identities, and by extension, are families, safe." Oliver said.

"I'll think about it." John said as Tommy joined them.

"Tommy, what are you doing down here?" Oliver asked.

"I was getting worried. I've texted Sara at least 10 times with no response, so I wanted to make sure everything was okay." Tommy said.

"I appreciate that Tommy, but I'm fine, I just ended up having to treat John here." Sara said.

"Oh, okay." Tommy said as he went back up, looking slightly put out.

"I'll go talk to him." Oliver said as he followed Tommy.

* * *

"Tommy, you okay?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, it's just, I feel like I don't contribute to the team." Tommy said.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"Come on Ollie, let's face it. I'm the only who has no real role it. You're the leader, Laurel's the hacker and second-in-command, John's the tactical support, you, him, Laurel and Thea are all field support, Laurel and Thea are superpowered heavy hitters and Sara's the medic. I don't serve a role to this team at all." Tommy said.

"Maybe that just means you haven't found it yet." Oliver said.

"Speaking of Thea, where is she?" Tommy asked, since neither of them had seen her since the visit to Iron Heights.

"I don't know, but she's a big girl with superpowers. She can handle herself." Oliver said with a smile and Tommy nodded in agreement.

* * *

"Well that was fun." Thea said as she pulled the sheets up to cover her chest as sat up in the bed and looked at the person lying next to her.

"Yeah, honestly, this was one hell of a way to tell me you were awake." Roy Harper said with a chuckle.

"Well, I figured we needed to make up for lost time." Thea said to her secret boyfriend.

"On that topic, when are you going to tell your brother about us? I mean after all, if it weren't for him, we never would've met." Roy asked.

"I will tell him soon, I promise, it's just now's not really the right time, especially with my mom's trial coming up." Thea said.

"Thea, I love you, but I can't keep doing this. I don't want to have to keep sneaking around. I want to be able to walk down the street and actually be able to put my arm around your shoulders. I hate all this sneaking around." Roy said.

"Roy, what are you saying?" Thea asked.

"What I'm saying is that either you need to tell your brother about us or there is no more us." Roy said.

"Roy, you know how I feel about you." Thea said.

"Yeah, I do. But the problem is that I'm the only one who does." Roy said.

"So, if I don't tell Ollie, we're done?" Thea asked.

"Yeah, that's exactly right Thea." Roy said as he got off the bed.

* * *

"Hey, look who decided to show up?" Oliver said to Thea.

"Yeah, sorry, I've been distracted." Thea said.

"What, you have a date or something?" Oliver asked.

Before Thea could answer, a newscast came on.

"Not him again." Oliver said about the madman on the tv.

"Who is that guy?" Thea asked, since she'd been absent lately.

"That's our latest nutjob. He's a gangbanger who likes to kill other gangbangers and calls it justice. He's like me and Laurel, minus restraint and a code of honor. He calls himself, the Savior." Oliver said.

"Something tells me that is not a Cisco approved nickname." Thea said, mocking their friend's tendency to give the bad guys nicknames and Oliver chuckled.

"No it is not. But all joking aside, we need to stop him." Oliver said as the video continued and Thea gasped in horror and covered her mouth with her hands.

"Meet Roy Harper. Arrests, larceny, robbery, aggravated assault. Yet you're out on the street. Another gangbanger in the Glades running free like the ones who killed my wife. I grew up in the Glades too, and it didn't turn me into a criminal." the Savior said.

"Thea, what's with the look. I know you and Roy are friends, but?" Oliver said.

"Ollie, he's not just my friend, he's my boyfriend, we've sneaking around behind your back." Thea said.

"I knew you were keeping a secret boyfriend, I just didn't know who it was." Oliver said with a smile.

"You're not mad?" Thea asked.

"Thea, I don't think that anyone in this family has a right to be mad at anyone for keeping secrets. But, I have to ask, why Roy?" Oliver asked.

"I could ask Laurel the same question about you." Thea countered.

"Fair point, but don't worry, we'll find him." Oliver said.

"Not without me you're not." Thea said.

"Thea, you're not ready." Oliver said.

"Do I look like I give a damn. I'm going, whether you like it or not." Thea said.

Oliver looked at her and could that she wasn't kidding.

"You don't have a costume." Oliver said.

"Who said I needed one." Thea asked as she closed her eyes and concentrated and suddenly, her body was covered in a huge splash of water, which, when it receded, Thea's outfit had changed to an aqua blue, female version of Oliver's suit, complete with a blue hood and mask.

"How did you?" Oliver asked.

"The one really impressive trick I managed to work out with Cisco. It's complicated, but since water is the only complex substance that can change states of matter between solids and liquids, so I can do the same thing, not just to my body, but to an extent, things I touch. Cisco actually began creating this suit when he did yours, since Dr. Wells had a suspicion and I made a few improvements and after doing something that I do not understand at all, now I can summon this suit at will via water vapor." Thea said.

"Handy. Come on, let's go save your boyfriend so I can beat the crap out of him." Oliver said and Thea rolled her eyes as they headed down to the foundry.


	5. Chapter 5

"Any luck tracking Roy's location?" Oliver asked Laurel as he and Thea entered the foundry.

"From what I can tell, the video's signal is coming from some sort moving vehicle. It's in the old subways." Laurel realized as she turned around and got her first glimpse of Thea in her suit.

"Nice suit, though I'm not even going to ask where you got it. Blue always was your best color." Laurel said to Thea, who grinned.

"Yeah, now all I need is a quiver." Thea said, since while she could use her suit, she wasn't ready to weaponize her powers yet and she already had a bow from her training..

"I think I got you covered." Oliver said as he went over to the armory and grabbed his spare quiver and tossed it to her.

"Let's move." Oliver said.

"I'm gonna stay here and monitor things in case the train moves." Laurel said.

"Copy that." Oliver said as he grabbed his own suit.

* * *

Green Arrow and Thea had just arrived at entrance to the subway stations that Laurel had directed them to.

"Black Canary, you sure this is it?" Thea asked as she and her brother looked around.

"According to the blueprints of the subway system, if they're on the train I'm tracking, you're standing at the next stop." Laurel said.

"Copy that, think you can do anything about the speed? It'll be easier for us to jump on." Green Arrow said.

"One step ahead of you as usual." Laurel said as they heard the train come passing by.

"Let's do this." Thea said as they jumped on board and entered.

"Joseph Faulk, you have failed this city." Green Arrow said as he and Thea held up their bows at Faust, who had a gun pointed at Roy's head.

"Not as badly as he has." Faulk insisted and Green Arrow had to put a hand on Thea's shoulder to keep her from killing him.

"Let the kid go. If you kill this kid, he'll never get an opportunity to change. You can give him a second chance." Green Arrow said.

"We're the only ones who can save this city. We can't stop now." Faulk insisted.

"We're not the same!" Green Arrow roared.

"You've killed people for this city. So have I. What's the difference between you and me? Emma never got a second chance. You have no idea how lonely it is." Faulk said and Green Arrow had to resist the urge to laugh at that, since no one understood that better than him.

"Joseph. Joseph! I understand being alone. But it doesn't give you the right to kill people in cold blood." Green Arrow said.

"He deserves it. Just like the gangbangers who gunned her down. He's no different. And now I get to gun him down." Faulk said, but before he could pull the trigger, Green Arrow fired and knocked the gun out of his hand and then fired another one into Faulk's stomach, killing him.

"I wanted to do that." Thea said.

"You're not ready to kill someone yet. Now get him out of here." Green Arrow said and Thea nodded as she did as she was told.

* * *

"Why didn't you let me kill Faulk. He kidnapped my boyfriend?" Thea asked Oliver as they entered the foundry.

"True, but Thea, killing isn't as simple as you think. Your first kill changes you. And I don't want you to have to deal with that for a long time, if ever." Oliver said.

"But it was okay for you to kill him?" Thea asked as Laurel joined in the conversation.

"Thea, Ollie and I both have red on our ledgers. Almost too much to count. For us, killing a person is just adding one more name to the list. You on the other hand, you're conscience is clean of that. You should try to keep it that way." Laurel said.

"Look, I get that you guys are trying to protect me, really I do, but I told you before that I am committed to this all the way, including the darker aspects of it." Thea said.

"And you'll get there in time. But remember, just because can kill, it doesn't mean you should." Oliver said.

"You kinda sounded like Yao Fei right now." Laurel said.

"Lord help me." Oliver said and they both chuckled.

"Who's Yao Fei?" Thea asked.

"He was our first teacher. He's buried on Lian Yu, I'll show you sometime if you want." Oliver said.

"I'll pass thanks." Thea said as she went to change and head back up to greet Roy.

"You didn't tell her about your dad?" Laurel asked.

"I will, but now wasn't the right time." Oliver said as they watched Roy and Thea hug and kiss on the monitors.

"Now I know how Thea felt every time she walked in on us kissing." Oliver said.

"Or more." Laurel said, remembering one time when she'd spent the night and Thea had accidentally walked in on them having sex.

"I'm surprised she isn't still traumatized from that." Oliver said with both a chuckle and disapproval in his tone.

"I know you don't exactly approve of Thea's taste in men, but I'll give her this. Bad boys lure you in every time. After all, I'm in love with you aren't I?" Laurel asked with a smile and Oliver chuckled.

"You are and I for one am very happy about that." Oliver said as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately.

"I believe that you owe me dinner and a movie Mr. Queen." Laurel said, since it was their date night.

"Ready when you are Ms. Lance." Oliver said.


	6. Chapter 6

Oliver, Laurel and Thea had just reentered the foundry after their latest mission to find John packing some weapons.

"Dig, what happened to you out there?" Oliver asked before noticing him.

"Is everything ok?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah. Just need a few personal days." John said.

"What's going on?" Laurel asked.

"Have to help a friend." John said.

"Who?" Thea asked.

"Lyla Michaels." John said.

"It's his spy girlfriend that works for A.R.G.U.S." Oliver said to Thea.

"She went to Russia looking for Deadshot, for me. Now she's missing." John said.

"Laurel, I think it's time we visited our Queen Consolidated subsidiary in Moscow." Oliver said immediately.

"Yeah." Laurel agreed.

"Oliver, what are you doing?" John asked.

"Same as you.. Just need to help a friend." Oliver said with a grin.

"I can't ask you guys to do that." John said.

"You didn't. Knowing Waller, the only reason she told you is so that we'd find out and go help you. Besides, Ollie and I have a contact in Russia that you'll need if you're gonna pull this off." Laurel said.

"When do we leave?" Thea asked.

"You're staying here Speedy. We can't leave the city unprotected." Oliver said.

"My first solo op. Nice." Thea said with a grin.

"I'll see if Cisco can act as your tech support or something, and also see if he can give you a codename or something, so that way if someone asks who you are, you can give them an answer beyond your name." Oliver said and Thea nodded.

"Also, what the hell was your boyfriend doing there tonight? He could've gotten himself killed or worse." Laurel asked.

"Ever since Ollie saved him a few weeks ago, Roy has been obsessed with trying to find him. I've been trying to talk some sense into him, but well, I guess I have a similar type as Laurel." Thea said.

"And that is?" Oliver asked.

"Hot headed stubborn idiots." Thea said.

"Sounds about right." Laurel agreed.

"I'd be offended if that it wasn't true and you loved me anyways." Oliver said.

"That I do." Laurel agreed.

"Anyways, I will keep trying to talk some sense into him and also keep this city safe while you guys are in Russia." Thea said.

"Good." Oliver said.

* * *

The next day, Laurel was surprised when she opened the door to the mansion (which she and Oliver had finished moving into a few days prior) and found her father waiting on the other side.

"Dad, what brings you here?" Laurel asked.

"Can we talk?" Quentin asked.

"Now's not really a good time. Ollie and I are heading out of town for a few days. By plane this time, trust me, we have had our fill of boats." Laurel said.

"This will just take a second." Quentin said.

"Yeah sure, come on in." Laurel said, deciding the easiest way to get moving was to get this over with.

"Thank you." Quentin said.

"So, where you guys going?" Quentin asked.

"Romantic getaway under the guise of visiting the Queen Consolidated subsidiary in Moscow." Laurel said.

"Really." Quentin asked.

"Yeah, considering how busy I've been at work and he's been with the Queen Cares foundation and his mother's trial, thought we could use a little romantic getaway. But anyways, why are you here? Got more insults to crack?" Laurel asked.

"No. Bridges to mend." Quentin said.

"What?" Laurel asked.

"You were right. I was being an ass for no other reason other than it was easier to blame Oliver for what happened than it was to you accountable for your own actions. Just like how it was easier to blame him for all my other problems than blame myself. And I was so caught up in my own anger that when you came home, rather than being there for you when you needed me to be, I just lashed out at Oliver and pushed myself away from you. But, if you're willing, I'd like to stop doing that." Quentin said and Laurel actually smiled at him.

"I've been waiting to hear you say something along those lines for awhile. I have to go now, but I promise I will call you when I get back and we can get lunch." Laurel said as Oliver entered the room.

"Quentin, what brings you here?" Oliver asked.

"I came here to mend fences and in your case, hand out apologies." Quentin said.

"Really?" Oliver asked.

"Really. Oliver, I'm sorry about everything I said to and about you." Quentin said as he held out his hand to Oliver, who shook it.

"I probably deserved it." Oliver said.

"No, you were just a kid when you got on your dad's boat and I was out of line." Quentin said.

"Just keep your jackass comments to yourself and I'll consider us even." Oliver said and Quentin nodded, thinking that was fair.

"Anyways, we need to go." Laurel said as they got up and left.


	7. Chapter 7

Oliver, Laurel and John were currently walking through a Russian club until Oliver finally spotted who they were looking for.

"Oliver Queen? Laurel Lance? Ha! My favorite Americans! Dabro pozhalovat." Anatoly said with a grin as he noticed his old friends.

"It has been too long." Laurel agreed with a smile, for while she was no fan of the organization Anatoly ran, he was a true friend.

"John Diggle, this is Anatoly Knyazev." Oliver said, making the introductions.

"Thank you for meeting us." John said.

"If Oliver vouches for you, you're my second favorite American." Anatoly said enthusiastically as they moved to the back office.

"First, a toast." Anatoly said as he poured some Russian vodka into 4 shot glasses and handed them out.

"None for me, thanks." John said until Oliver nodded at him to just go with it.

"Prochnost." Anatoly said.

"To strength." Oliver translated to John, since both he and Laurel spoke fluent Russian.

"Now. Business. This is woman you look for, yes? Picture is from two days ago, from gulag- prison." Anatoly said, showing them a photo of Lyla.

"Lyla was arrested?" John asked.

"Not quite. From what I hear, she was trying to break in." Anatoly said.

"Why?" Laurel asked.

"I do not know. But clearly she had issues breaking back out. Gulag, worst in Russia. It's called Koshmar. The nightmare. It's full of violent psychopaths and killers. And that's just the guards." Anatoly said.

"Anatoly, we need a way into the gulag to extract her." Oliver said.

"You get in, you get shot before you get out. Or end up like your friend. Mmm, it's impossible." Anatoly said.

"The only thing that's impossible is us leaving this country without this woman." John said.

"I like this guy. We have no word for "optimist" in Russian. The only way in to Koshmar is as prisoner. Now, I have guard there, owes me favor. It could work. I'll give you one shot in twenty." Anatoly said.

"Set it up. I'll go." Oliver said.

"No. It has to be me." John insisted.

"No." Oliver said.

"Oliver, what if something happens to you in there? What happens to me or Laurel, for that matter? You have to be on the outside making the moves. I'll go inside. I've got this." John insisted.

* * *

"Now that is a lot of drugs." Laurel noted when they returned to their hotel room.

"Courtesy of Knyazev. About enough weight to land me in the Koshmar." John said as Laurel handed him a coat.

"You need to be wearing this when they process you. Guards will take it, but that's the point." Laurel said and John nodded.

"This Is Knyazev's man inside the prison. A guard. He'll know where in the gulag Lyla is being held. When all hell breaks loose, you need to meet us at the rendezvous point with Lyla, or." Oliver said.

"Or I am a permanent Russian." John said and Oliver nodded.

"How do you guys know Anatoly anyways, you never said?" John asked.

"We met him 5 years ago when we were all held prisoner on a freighter called the Amazo. We didn't really bond though until we blew it up." Oliver said.

"I'm not even going to ask if you're kidding because I'm fairly sure you aren't." John said.

"Anyways, remember, get in find Lyla and then get the hell out of there. Don't stop to enjoy the culture." Oliver said.

"A Russian Gulag, something tells me that won't be hard." John said.

"John, I am serious. As someone who has been in multiple prisons even before Lian Yu, you do not want to get stuck in one as bad this. There's only one other place that's been described as worse than Koshmar." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.

"Oliver, trust me. No one is taking this more seriously then I am. And look, either I get out with Lyla, or I don't get out at all. That's something that I'm sure that both of you understand, given how much you love each other." John said.

"We do, that's how we survived together for 5 years. And it's why we're going to make sure we bring you and Lyla home safely." Laurel said and John nodded at her gratefully as Oliver checked the time.

"Time to go." Oliver said.

"See you on the other side." John said as Laurel hugged him before John headed out.

* * *

Back in Starling City, Thea was doing inventory in Verdant when she heard someone walk in.

"Jean." Thea said, surprised to see her mother's lawyer in her office.

"Thea, can we talk?" Jean asked Thea nodded.

"Step into my office." Thea said.

"Didn't take you for the club-hopping type." Thea said.

"Well, I'm here on business." Jean explained.

"Is everything ok with my mom?" Thea asked, concerned.

"We need to discuss something about this case. Your boyfriend Roy was arrested last night." Jean said and Thea had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at that, since she was well aware of Roy's stupidity, hoping to find her brother again.

"I know, but it was actually a misunderstanding. He got released." Thea said.

"Well, a few reporters got hold of the story and they now know you're dating a known felon. Thea, your mother is on trial for her life. Her whole defense pivots on being seen as a loving mother who did what she had to do to protect her children, what kind of parent she was. We need the people to know that she raised you to make good decisions. So if you care about your mom, you're going to have to end this relationship immediately." Jean said.

"Wait, what?" Thea asked.

"I'm sorry Thea, but your mother's life could be on the line here. We need to do everything we can to make it look like she was a good parent." Jean said.

"Then shouldn't you be having this talk with Oliver instead?" Thea asked.

"Actually, contrary to popular belief, your brother could be used as a prime example of Moira's parenting, since he's in a committed relationship with a member of the DA's office and runs a charity for the people of the Glades." Jean said.

"But what about all his prior crimes?" Thea asked.

"I never said that I wasn't going to speak with him about this, but he's out of town right now and I think we both know that it's not on a business trip, so I doubt that he'd like me to call him during a romantic getaway." Jean said and Thea chuckled.

"Are you sure that there's no other way?" Thea asked.

"I'm sorry Thea, but at least until the trial's over, you need to distance yourself from Mr. Harper." Jean said and Thea nodded.


	8. Chapter 8

Oliver was now meeting with Anatoly, since he knew that the Bratva would want something in return for their help.

"Oliver, I was surprised to find you here?" Anatoly said.

"Well, you and I both know that the Bratva never does anything without expecting something in return and I thought I'd just get that over with now." Oliver said.

"It is good that you did not forget our ways after being gone so long." Anatoly said.

"It's only been 2 years." Oliver said and Anatoly nodded.

"It might as well have been eternity, considering the closest thing I got to a Christmas card last year was a phone call to confirm your identity as Bratva captain." Anatoly said.

"I will try to keep in touch a bit more frequently, but can we please get to what you want from me now?" Oliver asked.

"Smart, get right to the point." Anatoly said as he handed Oliver a file.

"What's this?" Oliver asked.

"Remember what I told you and Laurel before you left?" Anatoly asked.

"How could I forget?" Oliver asked.

"I meant what I said about leading the Bratva to a better future and this helps us do that." Anatoly said.

Oliver looked down at the file and read it before looking up at him.

"Something this big, it'll cost you an extra favor." Oliver said.

"What do you need?" Anatoly asked.

"A ride that won't be suspicious around Koshmar. You get me that ride, I'll help you out." Oliver said.

"We have a deal." Anatoly agreed, shaking Oliver's hand.

* * *

"We're doing what?" Laurel asked.

"In exchange for his help, Anatoly wants us to help him acquire this." Oliver said as he held out a file to her.

"Medical equipment?" Laurel asked.

"Top of the line, but the government is keeping it under wraps. It's like our last heists with the Bratva, steal from the rich, give to the poor." Oliver said and Laurel hated it that he was right.

"Fine, but only because it's for a good cause." Laurel said and Oliver smiled at her.

"But this is the last time I'm doing the Bratva's dirty work." Laurel said.

"Trust me, the only reason I'm doing this is so that we don't have to worry about Anatoly calling in the favor later." Oliver said.

"I guess that makes sense, but remember, John is not the only one on a clock." Laurel said.

"I know." Oliver said.

* * *

Thea was wondering why her mother had asked to see her at Iron Heights and she was surprised to see Roy talking to her mother.

"Wh-what are you- what are you doing here?" Thea asked.

"Good question. I've gotten a lot of calls from prison, but never from my girlfriend's mother." Roy said.

"It occurred to me that I've never been given the opportunity to meet the man in your life." Moira said.

"I don't know if she told you, but your daughter kind of dumped me." Roy said.

"And what you should know is that she did it for me. Jean told me she came to see you. I told her she shouldn't have." Moira said.

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth?" Roy asked.

"Us being together It can hurt her case." Thea explained sadly, but Moira just smiled at her in a way that Thea wasn't sure she liked.

"Thea Your social life is not going to be the determining factor in my trial. Sweetheart, what you've had to endure this last year is more than most people go through in two lifetimes. But you've not only survived, you've flourished. I think a lot of that has to do with Roy. So, as your mother, I forbid you not to see him." Moira said and Thea didn't think she could feel happier than she did now.

"Thank you." Thea said as she hugged her mother with tears in her eyes.

"Roy, can you give us minute?" Thea asked her boyfriend, who nodded before asking "So, does that mean we're back together."

Thea smiled and then said "Yes Roy, we are still very much together."

"Great." Roy said as he walked out.

"He seems like a nice boy, much different than your usual partners." Moira said and Thea smiled.

"Yeah, but if I have to be honest, if there was one thing I'd change about him, it would have to be that he won't stop looking for Ollie. And by that, I mean." Thea began.

"The Green Arrow. I'm guessing that has something to do with your first big mission a few weeks ago?" Moira asked.

"How'd you know about that?" Thea asked.

"We do get the news in here Thea and about a new vigilante in blue who's filled in for the Green Arrow lately. I know that's you." Moira said.

"Yes, it's me alright. Ollie's been training me since I found out, mostly because he was afraid I'd do something stupid otherwise." Thea said.

"Where is he anyways?" Moira asked.

"On a romantic getaway with Laurel in Russia. He felt I was ready to handle the city alone." Thea said.

"Why's that?" Moira asked.

"I don't feel comfortable talking about that in a place that is under constant surveillance, I shouldn't have even said as much to you as I have in this place." Thea said and Moira nodded in understanding.

"Tell your brother I said hello when he gets back." Moira said and Thea nodded.

* * *

John, Anatoly's guard friend, and ironically, Lawton, had just walked through a door to find Lyla curled up next to a pipe.

"Lyla!" John said as he ran up to Lyla and helped her up.

"Johnny?" Lyla asked.

"Ready to go home?" John asked.

"You came for me." Lyla said, sounding relieved.

"I always have. Always will." John assured her.

"Deadshot's here. In the prison." Lyla said.

"I know." John said, looking over at the man in question.

"What's your extraction plan?" Lawton asked.

"Depends. What time is it?" John asked.

"Let's go, go, go, move, move, move! This way." John said as he led them out.

* * *

"I shut down the phones. The guards can't call for help." Laurel said over the comms Oliver.

"Got it, we're moving in." Oliver said.

"Your friend and that woman are not here by now, they will not be here at all." the guard said, right as there was an explosion that caused the walls to explode and hole to be formed.

"Much better." John said as Oliver and Anatoly, both disguised as guards fired.

"Oliver, get down! Follow me! Move!" John said as they all got into the car and moved out.

"We're clear." Oliver said.

* * *

After they'd driven far enough away, John decided to do what he'd been wanting to do for years.

"Stop the truck." John said and Anatoly did.

"Get out. Get out! Move." John said as he pushed Deadshot out of the truck and prepared to shoot him, only to find that he couldn't do it.

"That's the thing about honor, John. You can't turn it on and off. I'm just curious. How is it you think your brother ended up dead?" Lawton asked.

"You shot a client that Andy was protecting, and you missed." John said.

"I don't miss. Your brother was the contract." Lawton said, much to John's shock.

"Who would want to kill Andy?" John asked.

"I don't know the names, just an alias." Lawton said.

"What alias?" John asked.

"Hive." was all Lawton said in response.


	9. Chapter 9

"What are you doing here?" Oliver asked Laurel as he entered Iron Heights with Thea to see his mother, her lawyer and Adam Donner and Laurel waiting for them.

"I was just informing your mother that Ms. Lance will be joining me on this case." Adam said.

"What?" Oliver asked, looking at Laurel, who shrugged apologetically.

"This is a conflict of interest. Miss Lance practically grew up in the Queen house, not to mention she's currently in a relationship with the defendant's son, which has only gotten stronger after spending 5 years on an island with him." Jean said.

"I think you're overstating matters." Adam said, though Laurel looked like she agreed with Jean.

"Oh, we'll see when I move to conflict Miss Lance off this case." Jean said.

"Maybe there won't be a case much longer. I come here not just with Miss Lance, but also with a plea offer. Life, with the possibility of parole." Adam said.

"No. We are not pleading out. Mrs. Queen is innocent." Jean said.

"She aided and abetted 503 homicides." Laurel said regretfully at the look on her boyfriend and his sister's faces.

"Under duress from a homicidal maniac named Malcolm Merlyn. She also withdrew from the criminal conspiracy prior to its execution." Jean said.

"Five minutes prior. With Malcolm Merlyn dead, a jury's going to want to have to blame someone. If she doesn't take the deal, then she's facing the death penalty." Adam said.

"Sounds a lot like blackmail." Thea said.

"Try reality. And here's some more- we've subpoenaed over a decade's worth of phone messages, phone records, letters and emails. I'm willing to bet I find something that crushes your duress defense to powder." Adam said.

"Mr. Donner If you don't mind, I'd like a few days to consider your offer. Of course." Moira said.

"Of course." Adam said as he and Laurel got up to leave.

"I'll be right back." Oliver said as he went to follow them.

* * *

"Laurel." Oliver called out after the 2.

"Can you give us a minute Adam?" Laurel asked, dreading the conversation that was about to happen.

"Yeah, sure." Adam said, not wanting to have to listen to this relationship implode.

"So, what, you're doing my mother's trial now?" Oliver asked her angrily.

"I didn't ask for this case Ollie, I was assigned to it." Laurel said.

"Then say no." Oliver said.

"It's a new job and I don't have that type of pull yet and what pull I do have, I used to get your mother that deal." Laurel said.

"Wait, the death penalty was your idea?" Oliver asked.

"No, the sentence was. The DA's office wasn't kidding about the death penalty." Laurel said, right as something occurred to Oliver.

"No offense, but why would the DA's office place the one member of it who had more history with my mother than anyone on her case? It's like someone is trying to sabotage the trial." Oliver said and Laurel realized he was right.

"You're right, but why the DA would do that is beyond me. It's almost like someone is trying to use the trial to get between us." Laurel realized.

"The question is, who?" Oliver asked.

"I don't know, but I'm heading back to the DA's office now, maybe I can get some answers." Laurel said and Oliver nodded.

"I'll try and calm things down with Thea, since she's bound to be pissed off about this." Oliver said.

* * *

Tommy was exhausted, trying to find a way to save his company, since opening the clinic had not been enough to turn the company around after the Undertaking and right now his newest competition had just entered his office.

"Mr. Merlyn." Isabel Rochev said.

"Ms. Rochev to what do I owe this visit?" Tommy asked.

"Just thought I'd give you a heads up to start cleaning out your office, since at the end of this week, this company will be mine, since my company has been buying up the shares of yours and once the final shares are bought, this company will be mine." Isabel said.

"Not likely, I will find a way to save this company Ms. Rochev, so please, get the hell out of my office and do not come back unless you have an actual appointment." Tommy said.

"Suit yourself. But this will just make it all the more sweet when I take your company." Isabel said as she walked out right as Sara walked in.

"Hey, wasn't expecting to see you here." Tommy said with a smile to his girlfriend.

"Well, I wanted to come check up on you, but after seeing that woman, I think I should be asking if you're slipping into your old habits." Sara asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Relax, that was Isabel Rochev." Tommy said.

"The Ravager." Sara said, using the nickname that Tommy called her by at home.

"Yeah, she's convinced that she's going to take this company by the end of the week." Tommy said.

"What do you think?" Sara asked.

"I think that unless I get some sort of black lamb or something, she's right, I have not been able to do as much to save this company as I needed to." Tommy said.

"Why don't you ask Ollie to help? You know he'd be more than happy to." Sara said.

"Sara, if I went to Oliver, what message would that send? I need to prove that I can be a competent CEO on my own." Tommy said.

"All I'm saying is, don't let your pride cost you your company. Since after all, it might also put me out of a job if you lose your company." Sara said, since the clinic was owned by Merlyn Global and she was pretty sure that Rochev planned on closing the clinic down as part of her takeover.


	10. Chapter 10

Green Arrow, Black Canary and Thea, or as she preferred to be called, Tsunami, were dealing with members of a new gang.

"Any ideas on who these guys work for?" Tsunami asked.

"Just a street name, the Mayor." Black Canary said as she used her sonic blasts to knock them back.

"Something tells me he wasn't elected." Tsunami said as she used a new ability she's been learning and blasted some thugs with water.

"Well maybe now we can figure out where's he holed up." Green Arrow said as he took out another thug and held him at arrowpoint.

"Where's the Mayor? I want to arrange a meeting." Green Arrow asked.

"Keep dreaming." the thug said.

"Your mistake." Green Arrow said as he tossed the thug across the docks.

"Diggle, any luck on what they've stolen?" Black Canary asked.

"Yeah, I've got them in my sights, but considering how many thugs are guarding the shipment, I'm gonna need help with the extraction." John said as he drove after a convoy of some kind.

"I'm on it." Tsunami said as she used another new skill she'd discovered and generated a trail of water that she rode away **(imagine it as a water version of Killer Frost riding a stream of ice)**.

"She really loves doing that." Green Arrow said.

"Well you can't deny how cool it is." Black Canary said as they finished up there.

* * *

"Hey boys, something tells me those don't belong to you." Tsunami said as she arrived at the convoy.

"It's another one of those metahuman. Good thing the boss had us come prepared." the leader said as he tossed something into the air that detonated into a wave of bright light that blinded Tsunami and caused her to lose focus and fall from the air.

"Well, that was new." Tsunami said as she got up in time to see the truck leave.

"Did you guys get him?" Green Arrow asked over the comms.

"No, they had some unexpected toys." Dig said.

"Great, just what we needed. Get back to the foundry so we can figure out what it is they stole." Green Arrow said.

"Copy that." Tsunami said.

"You okay?" Dig asked.

"Peachy." Tsunami said as she glided out.

* * *

"So, any ideas what the Mayor and his gang stole?" Thea asked as Laurel checked the computers.

"No, but they were armed with some pretty fancy toys. I recognized the hardware they were using. Fully automatic M4A1 assault rifles. M4A1s are military grade weapons." Laurel said.

"Stolen, most likely." Oliver said.

"But stolen from where is the question?" John asked.

"I don't know, but Dig, check with Lyla, see if she can help narrow it down. We also need to figure out where the Mayor is getting tech that could disable metas, since Thea, we trained you so that flashes of light wouldn't be able to disorient you enough to disable your powers. But this was. We need to know where this tech is coming from and we need to know now." Oliver said and John nodded as Sara walked in.

"What happen to you guys?" Sara asked.

"We were going after some members of the Mayor's administration and it went south." Laurel said.

"And given that the mayor has been dead for 2 months, I'm assuming you mean the new crimelord in the Glades." Sara asked and Oliver nodded.

"Well, that sounds bad." Sara said.

"Yeah, but I think we need to get some rest and tackle it hard in the morning." Oliver said as Thea and Laurel walked out.

"Actually Oliver, I wanted to talk to you about something." Sara said.

"Shoot." Oliver said.

"Merlyn Global is going under and Tommy is worried about Stellmoor Industries taking it over, since that would also result in the demolition of my clinic and well, he's too proud to ask you, but." Sara said and Oliver knew where this was going.

"I will talk to Walter and I'm sure that he will be more than happy to do so." Oliver said and Sara looked at him gratefully.

* * *

Tommy had just entered the boardroom of Merlyn Global and was discouraged to see Rochev waiting for him.

"You can't win this. I now own 50% of the stock. By tomorrow, I'll have the outstanding five percent and I will control your company. Any attempt to fight me will lead to litigation and leave you penniless. And trust me, poverty isn't as glamorous as Charles Dickens made it look." Isabel said, right as Walter and Oliver entered the room.

"Not so fast Ms. Rochev." Walter said.

"What's going on?" Tommy asked.

"Queen Consolidated bought up the last few shares of Merlyn Global when they were released this morning and we have decided to allow Mr. Merlyn to remain in control." Walter said, much to Tommy's pleasant surprise.

"Really, well that is a shock." Isabel said as Tommy grinned at her.

"Well Ms. Rochev, Now I know I majored in dropping out, but I'm pretty sure that makes us partners going forward. So I guess We will be seeing a lot of each other." Tommy said.

"You aren't at all what people say about you." Isabel said.

"Most people fail to see the real me." Tommy said as Rochev left and he then turned to Walter.

"Thank you, Walter." Tommy said.

"You should thank Oliver. He's the one who brought your company's problems to my attention." Walter said and Tommy looked at Oliver.

"Sara came to you didn't she?" Tommy asked.

"She did and I'm glad she did." Oliver said.

"Well thanks man." Tommy said.

"Thank Sara to for telling me." Oliver as they hugged.

* * *

"Anything on those stolen army weapons?" John asked Lyla as they met up after some brief flirting.

"A crate of 12 M4A1s went missing from Camp Kirby two months ago." Lyla said.

"Yeah, I think I know where they went." John said.

"Every crate was fitted with a GPS system so they could be remote tracked. I tried pulling it up but it's not receiving. Must have been deactivated." Lyla said.

"Thanks, Lyla." John said.

"Tell your team to watch their backs out there and also to leave this to the ones with specialized training and fancy powers." Lyla said.

"Will do." John said right before they pecked each other's cheeks and walked away.


	11. Chapter 11

"Any ideas on how to track down the mayor?" Oliver asked as he entered the foundry.

"Maybe. According to Lyla, each of the crates has a GPS tag, though the Mayor has depowered them." John said.

"Okay, so?" Oliver asked.

"I'll give you one guess who the manufacturer of the crates are and as a hint, both of the heirs to the company are standing in this room." Laurel said, since both Oliver and Thea were standing in the room.

"Nice." Oliver said with a grin.

"I used your password on the QC mainframe so I could pull up the original plans from the QC mainframe. Turns out there's a design flaw. The beacon is still susceptible to a subform wave even if it's been deactivated." Laurel said.

"Translation please?" Thea asked.

"The Mayor turned it off, Thea. We can turn it back on." Oliver said as the computers beeped.

"I believe you ordered the crate of stolen military weapons, Mr. Queen." Laurel said.

"Dig, stay here and man the comms, the rest of us will handle it." Oliver said.

"Copy that man." John said, a bit unhappy about being sidelined.

* * *

The Mayor was currently enjoying a drink when he noticed a blinking light from one of the weapons containers.

"I thought you turned off the tracker?" The mayor asked, right as the 3 vigilantes burst through the windows.

"Go, go, go." Mayor shouted for them to leave as shots were fired from both sides as they evacuated.

"What's the status on the Mayor?" John asked over the comms.

"Still in office. The weapons are secure though." Green Arrow said.

"Good call on the body cams on your suits, I've got the images of the mayor running through facial recognition now." John said.

"Copy that, we're on our way back." Black Canary said.

"Well, aside from acquiring some new hardware for our armory, this was a waste of time." Tsunami said.

* * *

Oliver and Thea were surprised the next day when they were called to Iron Heights.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked.

"Your mother is thinking about accepting the Plea from the DA's office." Jean said.

"Wait, what?" Thea asked.

"It's complicated." Moira said.

"Uh, Jean, could you give us a moment alone with our mother? Maybe we can talk her out of it." Oliver asked Jean nodded.

"Mom, what aren't you telling us? You promised us no more secrets and we've kept up our end of the bargain. So, what don't you want us to know?" Oliver asked.

"The DA is bound to find something that would destroy not only my case, but also your faith in me. Especially you Thea." Moira said.

"I think we'd need to know that first." Oliver said, but Moira still looked uncomfortable.

"Mom, whatever it is, we can handle it. There isn't much that can surprise me anymore." Oliver said.

"Don't be so sure about that." Moira said.

"Mom, please, we've told you everything, including the other halves of our lives. The least you can do is be honest with us to." Thea said.

"Alright. Here it is. As I told you both before, your father wasn't always the most faithful husband to me. And in a moment of weakness, I retaliated. With Malcolm Merlyn." Moira said.

"Wait what?" Thea asked.

"And that's not all. It was almost 19 years ago and 9 months later, you were born Thea." Moira said.

"Wait, are you saying that Malcolm Merlyn is my birth father?" Thea asked.

"Yes, I am." Moira said ashamedly.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Thea asked.

"I lied about it for the same reason I went along with the Undertaking. To keep you safe Thea. Malcolm did not know you were his daughter and I wanted to keep it that way. I knew that Malcolm had been unhinged by his wife's death and I wanted to make sure that he didn't pull you into his madness." Moira said.

"I uh, I need some time alone." Thea said as she walked away.

"Oliver, I know what you must think of me." Moira said.

"No you don't. If I was in your position, I probably would've done the same thing, hell, I'm amazed that Laurel didn't have an affair with someone just to get back at me for all the times I cheated on her. But Thea may need more time to understand. But now that all the cards are on the table, don't feel like you have to worry about hiding things from us. Don't worry about the DA. Let's fight." Oliver said and Moira smiled.

"Let's fight." Moira said and Oliver grinned.

* * *

When Oliver returned to the foundry, he found Laurel and Thea waiting for him at the computers.

"Did facial recognition kick something back?" Oliver asked.

"Yep, we got a name, Xavier Reed." Laurel said.

"Did Mr. Reed serve in the military?" Oliver asked.

"No military history." Thea said.

"Family members?" Oliver asked.

"Reed was in and out of foster care his whole life. Wait, hold on. In 1996, Reed spent three years with a foster family and their son, Ezra Barnes. He served three tours in Iraq. He's stateside now." Laurel said.

"Let me guess, at Camp Kirby." John asked.

"Pay the man. The Mayor's foster brother is assigned to a weapons convoy that carries SCAR 16s by truck. The convoy's scheduled to come through Starling City tonight." Laurel said.

"FN SCAR 16s are military assault weapons with grenade launchers. The man gets a hold of these, Oliver, it's game over." John said.

"He won't. Suit up." Oliver said.

* * *

Reed and his brother were talking and checking out the firepower that Barnes had brought in when suddenly, an arrow knocked the weapon out of his hand.

"Xavier Reed, Ezra Barnes, you have failed this city." The Green Arrow said as Black Canary and Tsunami showed up next to him.

"Let's see what these bad boys can do." Reed said as they began to fight, which ended with Green Arrow pinning him to the ground.

"So, you going to kill me now?" Reed asked.

"No. Death would be too kind for all the people you've hurt." Green Arrow said simply.

* * *

Reed was surprised when he woke up to find himself in a chair that certainly was not the SCPD.

"This ain't the police station." Reed said when a man in some sort of skull mask approached him.

"Why are you wearing that mask?" Reed asked.

"This city is in chains, and I'm going to free it. But to do that, I need an army." the man said as he brought out a syringe filled with some sort of green liquid.

"Whoa, what's in that thing?! Get that off me! Get that crap away from me!" Reed shouted as he was injected with the substance.

"Are you ready to serve?" the man asked, only to watch Reed spasm for a few moments before he began to bleed from his eyes and went limp.

"Bring me another." the man said to his cohort.

"Yes, brother Blood." the cohort said.


	12. Chapter 12

Oliver had just finished a board meeting discussing the future of both Queen Consolidated and the Queen Cares foundation when his phone rang.

"Hello?" Oliver asked.

"Ollie, hey, any chance you can swing by the DA's office real quickly, I have something to show you." Laurel said.

"Yeah, I'm on my way." Oliver said.

* * *

"Hey." Oliver said as he kissed Laurel.

"Hey. you brought lunch?" Laurel asked, since Oliver had a bag of Big Belly Burger with him.

"I did, now would you mind bringing me up to speed?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, I did some digging into your mother's case and found out who insisted that I be assigned to it. A new city alderman, Sebastian Blood." Laurel said.

"As in Blood for Mayor?" Oliver asked, since that was common graffiti in the Glades these days.

"The self proclaimed savior of Starling city, even though we seemed to have already taken that title." Laurel said.

"Any ideas why Blood would do that?" Oliver asked.

"My best guess would be is that he wants to get in my pants and is trying to drive a wedge between us by putting me on your mom's case." Laurel said.

"Maybe, but it feels deeper than that. But is that all you wanted to tell me?" Oliver asked.

"No, actually, what I really wanted to show you was these." Laurel said as she pulled up images on her computer of Xavier Reed.

"The police found his body this morning and look at his skull. Seem familiar?" Laurel asked and Oliver's blood ran cold.

"Unfortunately. See if you can get a copy of the bloodwork taken from him to figure out he died, we need to know if our suspicions are correct." Oliver said.

"And if they are?" Laurel asked, though she had an idea.

"Then we have a bigger problem than we possibly could've imagined. You remember what happened the last time we dealt with this?" Oliver asked.

"I do and I'm not opting for a repeat performance." Laurel said as Oliver left.

* * *

"You sort of ran out in a hurry there Oliver." Walter said when Oliver entered his office.

"Something important came up. But anyways, why did you want to see me?" Oliver asked.

"Because I think that you're ready to take the reins of this company." Walter said, shocking Oliver.

"Look Walter, I appreciate that, but right now is just not a good time, what with my mother's trial coming up and some other things that are going on right now, I'm not ready. I promise, when I'm sure I'm ready for that responsibility, I will take charge, but for right now, I think things should stay the way they are." Oliver said and Walter nodded.

"I understand Oliver. Queen Consolidated is not going anywhere, so take your time." Walter said.

"Thank you." Oliver said.

* * *

"Did you get the results back?" Oliver asked Laurel as he entered the foundry.

"Yep and while I'm not a doctor, the symptoms and the bloodwork confirm exactly what we feared." Laurel said and Oliver sighed in acceptance.

"What are you guys talking about?" Thea asked.

"Xavier Reed's death. We've seen those symptoms before." Oliver said.

"When?" John asked.

"About 5 years ago on Lian Yu." Laurel said.

"Care to elaborate?" Thea asked.

"These are the effects of a drug called Mirakuru. We discovered a crashed japanese sub on the island carrying a shipment of it." Laurel said.

"What exactly is Mirakuru?" John asked.

"It translates from Japanese to English to miracle, but this drug is anything but. It was developed by the Japanese during world war 2, intending for it to be a super soldier serum. But it was defective. It killed most men who were injected with it and they were the lucky ones." Oliver said.

"Why, what happened to the people who survived?" Thea asked.

"They went insane. Oliver and I saw that first hand, when in order to save a friend's life, we had to inject him with the Mirakuru. It turned a man that we once called our friend into a man who tried to kill us." Laurel said.

"What happened to him?" John asked.

"I put an arrow through his eye. No way anyone could've survived that." Oliver said.

"The bottomline is that we need to figure out who it is that injected Reed with the drug and more importantly, where they got it from." Laurel said.

"So, where do we start the search?" Thea asked.

"I don't know." Oliver said.

"Maybe our friends at STAR labs can help." Laurel suggested and Oliver shrugged, thinking it couldn't hurt, right as the computers went off.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked.

"Looks like reports of a metahuman causing the weather to act all strange." Laurel said.

"Better check it out. Is there any more info on it." Oliver asked.

"No, but this doesn't seem like it was intentional. My best guess would be is that whoever it is just discovered they have powers." Laurel said.

"Thea, call Star labs, tell them they're about to get a new patient." Oliver said and she nodded.


	13. Chapter 13

When Green Arrow, Black Canary and Tsunami arrived at the scene of the storm, where lightning was striking at random and the winds were uncontrollable in the form of tornado and in the eye of the storm, was a young woman, who was black, had long black hair and a terrified look on her face as she realized she was the one causing this storm and she couldn't control what was happening to her.

"I can try to calm the storm down?" Tsunami asked.

"No, her powers might counteract yours. We need to calm her down." Green Arrow said.

"Why, how do you know she's not evil?" Black Canary asked.

"You can tell by the look on her face that she's not. She just doesn't know how to control what's happening. She needs to calm down." Green Arrow said.

"And how do we do that? That storm will knock any arrows we could shoot out of range?" Tsunami asked.

"If you 2 use your powers, you might be create a hole in the storm for me to get through." Green Arrow said.

They both nodded, knowing what he wanted them to do.

Black Canary used her sonic cry to blast a hole into the storm, which Tsunami than fired water at to try and hold it.

"We can't hold this for long, go." Tsunami said to Green Arrow, who nodded and charged through the hole into the storm.

* * *

"Miss, please, you need to stop this." Green Arrow said as he arrived at the eye of the storm, where the hole closed after him.

"I can't." the woman said.

"Yes you can. Just calm down." Green Arrow said.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one causing a natural disaster." she shouted.

"I'm sorry about this." Green Arrow said as he fired an arrow into her chest and she passed out, causing the storm to fade.

"What did you do?" a cop asked as he ran up to them.

"Relax sir, it's just a tranq arrow to calm her down." Green Arrow assured him.

After checking that she had a pulse and confirming she was alive, the man looked up at him in apologies.

"Sorry, it's just, this is my daughter." the man said.

"I know where we can take her to get her proper help." Green Arrow said.

"Star Labs." the cop said.

"How'd you know?" Green Arrow asked when suddenly this man looked familiar to him.

"My foster son is there." the man said.

"I'll meet you there." Green Arrow said as he picked the girl up.

"What are you doing?" the officer asked.

"One of my partners can get her there faster than a car." Green Arrow said and the cop reluctantly nodded in agreement.

* * *

At Star Labs, Dr. Wells and Caitlin immediately took over watching the woman when her father arrived.

"Joe, it's good to see you again, though I wish it was under better circumstances." Dr. Wells said to the cop, who nodded.

"Is she going to be okay?" Joe asked.

"The tranq I used on her was specifically designed to interact with her meta DNA. It'll keep her unconscious and also hopefully help her body and mind adjust to her powers." Green Arrow said.

"Where'd you learn how to make those?" Joe asked.

"He didn't. Star Labs provided him with those arrows." Dr. Wells said.

"Wait, you've been working the vigilantes?" Joe asked.

"Two members of my team are metahumans and since Wells's machine is what did that in the first place, they've been learning to control their powers and in order to deal with other metahumans who might be less than nice with their powers, we gave him some tools to help him defend himself and we are working on a way to help the police do the same." Dr. Wells said.

"I wasn't angry. I'm one of the few cops in SCPD who actually supports the Green Arrow and his team." Joe said.

"Really? You're not just saying that to get me to lower my guard and my hood?" Green Arrow asked.

"If I cared about your identity I would've tried to mask you by now, but you saved my daughter from herself tonight. Maybe people will start seeing you in a different light if you keep that guy around." Joe said as the woman woke up.

"Iris." Joe said as he walked over to his daughter.

"Dad." Iris said as she hugged him.

"How you feeling baby girl?" Joe asked.

"Better, but like there's a storm in my body that I can't get rid of." Iris said.

"It appears that when you were struck by the dark matter from the particle accelerator explosion last year has given you the ability to manipulate the weather. A very impressive ability, though as seen earlier tonight, a bit dangerous if not controlled." Wells said.

"Oh god. Did I hurt anyone?" Iris asked.

"No. Fortunately, my team and I were able to administer a sedative to you before anyone could get hurt, though you probably made a lot of car dealerships very happy and insurance people unhappy." Green Arrow jokes.

"Not funny. But thank you. Whoever you are." Iris said

"I think that since you know her powers, you can trust her and her father with your identity." Wells said.

"Since once I get a handle on these powers, we're probably going to cross paths, so you might as well tell me." Iris said.

"So, you plan on walking the path?" Green Arrow asked.

"Yeah I mean, if a man with only a bow and arrow can make a difference in this city, why can't I, especially if I have powers like the Black Canary and Tsunami." Iris said.

"Okay, but I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Wells and his team when they found out my identity. You tell anyone who I am and I'll kill you." Green Arrow said and they could tell by the tone of his voice that he was not kidding.

"Your identity is safe as long as you continue to be the hero this city needs to you be." Joe said.

"I'm not a hero Detective." Oliver said as he turned off his voice modulator and removed his mask and hood.

"Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow. I should've known." Joe said, but before any of them could react, the man who was lying in a coma suddenly shot up and his eyes shot open, his eyes crackling with electricity.


	14. Chapter 14

"Barry." Iris said as she moved over to the man's side.

"What the hell?" he asked.

"You got struck by lightning." Iris said as Caitlin and Cisco joined them in the cortex.

"Lightning gave me abs?" Barry asked, since he noticed that he now had abs he certainly had not had before getting struck by lightning.

"I'll take that as my cue to leave. Remember, you tell anyone who I am and you'll regret it." Oliver said as he headed out.

* * *

"Wait, so now there's a cop who knows your identity and expose our operations?" Laurel asked after Oliver had filled them in on what had happened at STAR labs.

"Relax, he's one of the few cops who actually supports our actions, plus, I have something on him to keep his mouth shut." Oliver said.

"And that is?" Thea asked.

"He tells on us, I tell on his daughter, who while she didn't kill anyone, she did cause a lot of damage to the city." Oliver said.

"So in exchange for keeping our secret, we keep her's. Sounds like a plan." Laurel said.

"Well anyways, we need to get going, mom's trial is in a few hours." Thea said, reminding them both of what today was.

"Right. Guess today we're going to find out if the city finds mom innocent or guilty." Oliver said, mentally preparing himself for the more likely verdict.

"Let's go." Laurel said.

* * *

As Oliver and Thea walked into the courtroom, preparing to face the music, reporters kept pestering them for answers while John tried to push them aside.

"Mr. Queen, what are your mother's chances? Is she on suicide watch? Mr. Queen, can you give us any comment?"

"It's not fair. They're not the ones on trial." Laurel said sadly as she looked at her boyfriend and his sister deal with the press.

"That won't stop Jean Loring from using them as props to drum up sympathy." Adam said.

"You don't seem overly concerned." Laurel noted.

"She confessed to being an accomplice on live television." Adam said.

"Also said that Malcolm Merlyn coerced her. You have something, don't you? I thought I was your co-counsel, Adam. If you're holding a trump card, don't you think maybe you should share it with me?" Laurel asked, looking at him shocked.

"It's going to be a good trial. Come on, let's get inside." Adam said cryptically as they entered the courthouse.

* * *

After the case had been opened, Adam began his case.

"The defendant has been complicit in an undertaking with one horrible purpose- to destroy the Glades and everyone in it. And it nearly worked. While the undertaking was prevented, there was still plenty of damage done by the rioting that was caused by her confession. Homes and lives were lost. All because of her actions. True, she had second thoughts; Remorse which compelled her to deliver this statement. But on behalf of all the lives that were extinguished that day, I say, Moira Queen, your remorse comes too late." Adam said.

"For the last five years, my client was under the threat for her life and the lives of her family. Why wouldn't those threats silence her? Why wouldn't Moira Queen be terrified? Malcolm Merlyn killed her first husband, abducted her second. Why wouldn't she be in fear for her life? For the lives of her children? What would you do? If it were your children in the crosshairs of a mad man's rage?" Jean asked and Laurel had to admit, it was a compelling argument, not that she'd ever say that out loud.

* * *

Thea had been called up to the stand by the prosecutor.

"Ms. Queen, when was the first time you heard about this so-called Undertaking?" Adam asked and Laurel hoped that Thea would lie convincingly.

"When everyone else did, when my mother gave the press conference." Thea lied smoothly, since while she had learned what the Undertaking that day, it wasn't because of the press conference.

"Doesn't seem like you took it too well." Adam noted.

"I was surprised. Who wouldn't be?" Thea asked.

"Uh, your mother was, um, immediately take into custody, but I assume you went down to the precinct to see her?" Adam asked.

"Um, actually I didn't see her until she was moved. To the prison." Thea said, but thankfully she had a good excuse.

"Do you remember when you visited her?" Adam asked.

"Uh, not the exact date." Thea said.

"It's ok, I have the visitor log here. October ninth. Five months later. Why so long?" Adam asked, sure he'd gotten her, but Laurel had to suppress a smile, since there was a good reason why she hadn't visited her mother.

"In my defense, I was in a coma due to the accident at Star Labs last year. I couldn't get out of bed, much less gone to Iron Heights to visit my mother." Thea said and Oliver could help a chuckle at the look on Donner's face.

"I'd like to see proof of that." Adam said.

"Objection, I don't see how proof that Ms. Queen was in a coma is relevant to this case as it is her mother on trial, not her." Jean said.

"Sustained." the judge agreed.

* * *

After the judge called for a recess, Oliver, Thea and Jean met with Moira to discuss the trial.

"How do you think it's going?" Oliver asked.

"All I can say is that we're lucky that the Undertaking failed, otherwise it would be harder to convince the jury. Thea's testimony helped, especially when she made Donner look stupid by informing him of her coma." Jean said.

"Is there anything else we can do in case the DA's office has anymore evidence they could use against her?" Thea asked.

"I don't know, but if Moira were to testify, it could give us the edge we needed." Jean said.

"No. I won't testify." Moira said stubbornly.

"But I will." Oliver said, since he had not been called to the stand.

"What?" Jean asked.

"We know that Malcolm sabotaged the Queen's Gambit, killing our father and stranding me on an island. Since mom had no idea I was alive until last year, I think it might work." Oliver said and Jean nodded.

"Alright then, I'll call you to the stand when the trial reconvenes." Jean said as she walked out.

"Ollie, are you sure you want to do this?" Thea asked.

"I have to Thea. The jury doesn't seem to realize just how much of a corner Merlyn had mom backed into. Hopefully this will remedy that. But mom, what I don't understand is why you won't testify. It's not like you have anymore secrets from us." Oliver said.

"Oliver, please, I have my reasons." Moira said.

"Okay." Oliver said.

* * *

When the trial reconvened, Jean surprised everyone by saying "Your honor, I call Oliver Queen to the stand."

"Objection, Mr. Queen is the defendant's son." Adam said.

"So what, her daughter can testify but her son can't." Jean said.

"Overruled, the defense may proceed." the judge said.

"Thank you." Jean said as Oliver took a seat at the stand.

"Mr. Queen, you told me that you had proof of how Malcolm Merlyn blackmailed your mother. What is it?" Jean asked.

"Many people are not aware of this, I only recently became aware of this myself, but my father, Robert Queen, was also aware of the Undertaking. He tried to stop Malcolm from going through with that insane plan, but when Malcolm Merlyn caught wind of it, he put a bomb on the Queen's Gambit to shut my father up before he could tell anyone. Merlyn killed my father and sentenced me and Laurel Lance to five years on a hellish island. So yes my mother went along with the Undertaking because Malcolm had already taken her husband and her son from her and she did what she felt she had to do to protect her daughter. Can any of you in the jury honestly say that you wouldn't do the same thing had you been in her position?" Oliver asked.

"That is all Oliver." Jean said as Oliver got up and left the stand.

* * *

After Moira had surprisingly decided to testify and revealed her affair with Malcolm, the jury had finally reached a decision.

"I have received a note that the jury has arrived at a verdict. Please publish the verdict." the judge said as he was handed the verdict.

"In the superior court of Star county state versus Moira Queen verdict On one count of conspiracy in the first degree, the defendant is found not guilty. On the 503 counts of murder in the first degree, the defendant is found Not guilty." the judge read much to everyone's surprise and Oliver, Thea and Moira's immense relief as her children walked up to her and hugged her as she cried in happiness.

* * *

On the other side of the city, the man in the Skull mask was taking a look at his newest inductee and the results looked promising.

"Brother Cyrus How do you feel?" Brother Blood asked.

"Stronger." Cyrus said.

"Good. Then you're ready. The Green Arrow has no idea what he's in for." Brother Blood said with a grin.

* * *

Moira had just gotten in the car after being processed when she noticed that the car was not headed home.

"The freeway will be quicker." Moira said.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Queen. I was instructed not to take you home. Not yet." the driver said as they arrived in a strange lot.

"Where are we? I-I don't know this place." Moira panicked.

"I've got her, sir." the driver said, only to be shot down. Moira turned to see a face that she had hoped she'd never see again.

"Hello, Moira." Malcolm Merlyn said.

"They said you were dead!" Moira panicked, reaching for her phone to call Oliver before remembering she didn't have a phone.

"There are parts of the world where death is an illusion. I've been to one. I learned to be very convincing. But I returned because you needed my help." Malcolm said.

"Help?" Moira asked.

"With your trial. You didn't think that jury acquitted you without a little persuasion?" Malcolm asked.

"Dear God. What do you want, Malcolm?" Moira asked.

"I still have resources in Starling. Associates. Including one in the D.A.'s office. I followed Mr. Donner's investigation of you with interest. The ease with which you lied about us for years, it made me wonder whether you lied to me." Malcolm began.

"No. No." Moira said, hoping he hadn't figured it out.

"It was a matter of a simple surreptitious genetics test to confirm my suspicion." Malcolm said.

"Don't." Moira begged.

"Imagine my joy at learning that Thea is my daughter." Malcolm said with a sick grin.


	15. Chapter 15

"Mom." Oliver said, relieved when his mother finally entered the mansion.

"Oliver." Moira said, looking more distressed than ever.

"What's going on?" Thea asked as she and Laurel joined them.

"We were worried about you. What happened?" Oliver asked.

"Malcolm. Malcolm, he's alive. He's alive and he visited me." Moira said.

"What no. That's impossible. Malcolm's dead. I killed him myself." Oliver said.

"It's true Oliver. He's alive and he's the one who got the jury to vote not guilty for me." Moira said.

"That explains a lot." Laurel said.

"That's not all. He's knows about Thea." Moira said.

"Wait, what?" Oliver asked.

"He's knows that Thea is his daughter." Moira said.

"That is not good, but we can deal with that. Laurel, try and get in touch with Sara and Tommy, something tells me that they're Malcolm's next stop." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.

"Mom, I swear to you, I will find him and when I do, this time when I kill him, there will be no coming back from it." Oliver promised her.

* * *

The next day, Oliver brought Moira to Queen Consolidated where she was trying to avoid making eye contact.

"Welcome back to Queen Consolidated Mom." Oliver said.

"You really have turned this business around." Moira said.

"Actually, all I did was help with the PR. The person who deserves the real credit is." Oliver said as said person walked up to them.

"Walter." Moira said, feeling a little awkward towards her ex-husband.

"Hello Moira. You look lovely as ever." Walter said.

"Thank you." Moira said blushing, right as Oliver's phone went off. After he checked it, he looked at Walter.

"We need to get to the Applied sciences division now. I just got a call from security." Oliver said and Walter nodded.

* * *

"Damn! This door was made of expanded reinforced titanium." Oliver said as they walked in.

"What did they use to do this?" Walter asked Detective West.

"Not sure yet. No sign of any explosives. Maybe a crane, maybe a forklift. I'm guessing there was at least three of them, maybe four. And given how quick they got in and out of here They were fast." Joe said, looking at Oliver, who nodded.

"Whoa, hey, stop, wait! You don't even have a fare! Any idea what these guys were so hot to break in here for?" Joe asked.

"You didn't happen to leave a spare earthquake machine lying around, did you? Sorry." Quentin said at his daughter's boyfriend's look.

"No, but there is plenty of other tech in here that would make us be terrified." Oliver said.

"This is what we're able to pull off the security cameras," Lance said as another cop brought him a security feed, " He was the only guy we got on video. The rest of the crew must have come in after him."

"Actually, it was only one guy." a new voice said and Oliver turned to see that Barry guy walking in.

"Barry, it's good to see you again, but what brings you here?" Oliver asked.

"Oh right, I forgot. Barry Allen is a CSI for the SCPD. This was his first case since he came out of his coma." Joe said.

"Right." Oliver said, nodding at that explanation.

"You know each other?" Lance asked.

"Barry was treated at STAR labs at the same time Thea was while she was in her coma. Joe and I met there when I was visiting her and he was visiting him." Oliver explained and Quentin nodded at that explanation.

"Anyways Barry, what makes you think only one guy did this." Oliver asked, though he had a suspicion.

"One very strong guy, , it takes about 1,250 foot pounds of torque to break someone's neck. You see the marks on the guard's neck? The bruising pattern suggests the killer used only one hand. I'm guessing you don't know how hard it is to break someone's neck." Barry asked, since while he had also pieced together that Oliver was the Green Arrow, he knew that no one else did.

"Hmm? No. No idea." Oliver said.

"Uh, we're going to need a list of the entire inventory here to figure out exactly what was stolen." Joe said, trying to defuse the tension.

"Actually, I think I know what was stolen. A centrifuge. An industrial centrifuge. Probably the Cord Enterprises 2BX 900. Maybe the six series. Both have a three column base. Here, you can see the three sets of broken bolts where the thief just ripped it out of the ground." Barry said.

"And what exactly is a centrifuge?" Oliver asked.

"It separates liquids. The centripetal acceleration causes denser substances to separate out along the radial direction. And lighter objects move to the top." Barry said.

"I guess you'd know something about acceleration." Oliver said.

"Can I talk to you outside please?" Barry asked and Oliver nodded and Joe joined them.

"How did you know?" Barry asked.

"When you woke up you had lighting crackling in your eyes and now a red blur is zipping around the city. I put 2 and 2 together." Oliver said.

"You're not gonna tell anyone are you?" Joe asked.

"It's the same deal we made about Iris. You keep your mouths shut about my secret identity and I will keep quiet about yours." Oliver said.

"Thanks." Barry said.

"But, word of advice, you need to come up with your nickname fast, otherwise you might end up have the police or the media give it to you." Oliver said.

"Anyways, I will take this to STAR labs, see if they can make any sense of this footage." Barry said.

"My team and I will handle this. Something tells me that this is not a metahuman, it's just a guy on some really strong steroids." Oliver said.

"You care to elaborate?" Joe asked.

"Not really." Oliver said as he walked away.

* * *

Oliver was on his way back to the foundry when he heard his phone go off and saw it was his mom.

After he answered it, he was about to say hello when heard a very familiar voice.

"You cannot have my daughter." he heard Moira said.

"Our daughter." Malcolm Merlyn's voice said.

"I think we both needed someone that night. I felt so bad about betraying Rebecca's memory that I left Starling. Left Tommy behind. That's when I made my way to Nanda Parbat, where I found my new purpose. In a way, Moira, you made me the man I am today." Malcolm said and Oliver was now only planning on stopping by the foundry to get his gear.

* * *

"Thea is innocent. She loved Robert. Please don't take that away from her, I'm begging you. Thea is all I have left." Moira begged Malcolm.

"Tell her the truth, and tell her soon." Malcolm said.

Before Moira could respond, the Green Arrow came smashing through the window.

"Hello Oliver, it's good to see you again." Malcolm said.

"Wish I could say the same thing." Green Arrow growled at him as he notched an arrow at him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Malcolm said.

"Why not?" Green Arrow asked.

"Because if you kill me, everyone in Starling City will know that you're the Green Arrow. I made arrangements." Malcolm said and Green Arrow glared at him.

"Leave my mother alone and never come near her or any of us ever again." Green Arrow growled.

"See you soon Ollie." Malcolm said tauntingly as he left.


	16. Chapter 16

Tommy was currently in his office, doing some work when suddenly the lights went out.

"What the hell?" Tommy asked.

"Hello son." Malcolm said as he just appeared to his son.

"Dad, what the hell. Oliver told me you were dead." Malcolm asked.

"You once believed that Oliver was dead. This cannot be a surprise to you son." Malcolm said.

"I'm not your son and you're not my father. You stopped being my father when you left for 2 years. Robert Queen was more of a father to me than you ever were and you killed him. Give me one reason why shouldn't call the cops right now?" Tommy asked.

"What makes you think the police will make any real difference against me?" Malcolm asked.

"Oliver and Laurel beat you." Tommy said.

"And nearly died in the process." Malcolm said.

"What do you want Malcolm?" Tommy asked.

"First, I wanted to scold you for allowing this company to become what it has. Why not start a charity like the Queens?" Malcolm said.

"I reopened mom's old clinic in the Glades. You know, the one you shut down." Tommy said.

"It's not enough. And now Isabel Rochev will ruin you. And the Queens." Malcolm said.

"Get the hell out of my office." Tommy said.

"It was my office first Tommy." Malcolm said as Tommy tried to punch him, only to have Malcolm catch the punch and and quickly send his own son to the ground.

"It's a shame you couldn't be more like your sister. Now she's someone I'm proud to call my child. She's strong and resourceful. I suppose she gets that from her brother. I'm sorry her other brother Oliver. Thea is steel. But you, Tommy, you're nothing but worthless glass." Malcolm said as he vanished without a trace, leaving Tommy lying on the floor, slightly bleeding.

* * *

Oliver and Laurel were sparring in the Foundry while Sara was doing medical inventory to see what she needed to get from her hospital supplier for the clinic when Tommy walked in looking beaten.

"Oh my god, what happened to you?" Sara asked as she rushed over to her boyfriend.

"My dad paid me a little visit today at the office." Tommy said.

"Wait, Malcolm, I thought you guys said he was dead?" Sara asked, looking at Oliver and Laurel.

"You didn't tell her?" Oliver asked.

"I didn't want her to worry." Tommy said.

"Your homicidal father is back in town and you didn't tell me. That makes me worry more Tommy." Sara said as she turned away from him.

"Something tells me that you just got couched." Oliver said with a chuckle despite the situation.

"Totally couched." Laurel agreed.

"Anyways, I got my ass handed to me by my dad. He called me weak. Said I was nothing like Thea, who by the way, I still can't believe is also my sister." Tommy said.

"You didn't try to hit on her did you?" Laurel asked with a smile.

"Relax, she was underage so I wouldn't try it." Tommy said.

"Anyways, he's not wrong. Thea's a fighter. She jumped on the bandwagon all the way when she found out." Oliver said, wondering where Tommy was going with this.

"Yeah well, maybe it's time I toughened up." Tommy said.

"Tommy, what are you saying?" Laurel asked.

"You guys have been training Thea and she's gotten good, even without her powers. I want you to train me." Tommy said.

"Tommy, I'm not sure that's a good idea." Oliver said.

"I want to make sure that the next time someone like my dad shows up, I can stand a chance. Please." Tommy said.

"Sara, what do you think?" Laurel asked.

"If Malcolm is alive, it might not be the worst idea." Sara admitted.

"Ok then, we'll start training tomorrow." Oliver said, as Thea came running in, tears in her eyes.

"Thea, what's wrong?" Oliver asked.

"Roy. Someone took him." Thea said.

"What? Okay, slow down and start from the beginning. What happened?" Oliver asked.

"We were helping one of Roy's friends Sin with something, searching for a lost friend of her's, but I lost touch with him. I checked out the last place he was supposed to be at and he was gone and there were signs of a struggle." Thea said.

"We'll investigate that, but I think that we should call it for tonight." Laurel said.

"Why?" Oliver asked.

"Am I the only one who remembered that it's Christmas?" Laurel asked and Oliver chuckled.

"I was just teasing, of course I remembered that it's Christmas. The house is all decorated, though I decided to skip the annual party this year." Oliver said and Laurel smiled.

"How can you expect me to celebrate when my boyfriend is missing?" Thea asked.

"Relax Thea. Christmas isn't for another few days and I promise that we will find him before then." Oliver said and Thea nodded.

* * *

Moira was currently getting herself a drink in the parlor of the mansion when she heard someone approach her.

"Have you prepared Thea?" Malcolm asked.

"No. You will not go near Thea, you will not speak to her and you will never set foot in this house again." Moira said confidently.

"I set you free, Moira. Your life belongs to me." Malcolm said.

"I am through being afraid of you." Moira said confidently.

"You think you can stop me? Even Oliver couldn't kill me." Malcolm said.

"No, he couldn't. But I know someone who can. Ra's al Ghul." Moira said and took a lot of pleasure at the look on Malcolm's face.

"How do you know that name?" Malcolm asked panicking.

"Well, I didn't. Until you mentioned Nanda Parbat. The League of Assassins, however twisted their aims, believes very deeply in a code of honor. Your undertaking betrayed that code." Moira informed him.

"You told Ra's I'm still alive?" Malcolm asked.

"He was so grateful to hear it. Because he so very much wants to kill you himself. So my advice to you, Malcolm Run." Moira advised.

"This isn't finished, Moira." Malcolm said as he left, right as Oliver and Thea entered the parlor.

"You look particularly proud. What's going on?" Oliver asked.

"I just solved our Malcolm problem. For now anyways." Moira said.

"What does that mean?" Thea asked.

"Turns out there are people who want to kill him even more than you do. Like a man named Ra's al Ghul." Moira said and Oliver grinned.

"I see you've heard of him." Moira said and Oliver nodded.

"Laurel and I both heard stories about him while we were gone and if Malcolm's pissed him off, I'd say we're done dealing with him for awhile." Oliver said.


	17. Chapter 17

Green Arrow was searching the city for Roy when he noticed something in the distance. A bolt of lightning speeding through the city and he got an idea before heading for it.

"Hey." Green Arrow said when the blur came to a stop in front of him to reveal a man wearing a red skin tight bodysuit with lightning bolts on the ears and a crimson logo with a gold lightning bolt on it.

"Hey, Green Arrow." Barry said.

"You got a name yet?" Green Arrow asked.

"I was kind of leaning towards the Flash. What do you think?" Barry asked.

"Catchy. But anyways, I need your help." Green Arrow said.

"With what?" Flash asked.

"Finding this guy, Roy Harper. Any chance you could speed up the search." Green Arrow asked.

"Yeah, no problem, it'll be a good way for me to get some practical use of my powers." Flash said.

"Great, let me know if something comes up, but if you see him, call us and we'll handle the extraction." Green Arrow said.

"Copy that." Flash said as he sped off.

* * *

Oliver was currently putting Tommy through the ringer as they trained with Escrima sticks, Oliver's strikes moving so fast Tommy could barely see them coming.

"Damn, who taught you how to fight like that?" Tommy asked after Oliver knocked him to the floor again.

"A man named Slade Wilson." Oliver said as Laurel and Sara came walking down into the foundry.

"And where's he now?" Tommy asked, thinking he'd like to get some lessons from that guy.

"Hell." Laurel said simply.

"Really, how bad is wherever he's at?" Sara asked.

"No she means he's dead. We had a falling out about 5 years ago that ended with me putting an arrow through his eye. Guess he trained me a little too well." Oliver said.

"Not well enough kid." a familiar voice said and Oliver turned to see Slade Wilson, with both eyes intact.

"What the?" Oliver asked.

"What's the matter, kid?" Slade asked with a sneer as Oliver stood there, dumbfounded. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"This is a nice place." Slade was saying as he waved the arrow around. "It's a bit more comfortable than the fuselage on the island."

"You're not real." Oliver said bluntly, startling the others.

"Neither are you." Slade said, walking up to the display case and staring at the hood. "You told everyone when you started this crusade that it was about making up for your father's sins. That was a lie." He snapped the arrow and dropped it to the ground. "This charade is to atone for your sins." He accused.

"You're dead." Oliver said plaintively.

"You are not a hero." Slade shot back. "Or a friend. Or a brother. You are nothing." Oliver turned away from Slade. "Do not turn your back on me, not again." He thundered.

"Ollie, are you okay?" Laurel asked, but Oliver paid her no mind.

""You're gone." Oliver said softly.

"Wherever I am It's time you joined me." Slade rushed Oliver and sent him tumbling into one of the tables.

Oliver looked back in shock, and then swung his bow, aiming for Slade's head. Slade ducked, blocked another hit, and then sent Oliver stumbling into another table. Oliver hit on his injured ribs and gasped. "They say a coward dies a thousand deaths." Slade continued. "But even that wouldn't be enough for you."

"I tried to save you!" Oliver protested. "And her."

"But you couldn't." he replied, pointing an accusing finger at him. "Just like you couldn't save this city."

Enraged, Oliver rushed Slade. The older man easily blocked his attacks, deftly disarming him before striking Oliver with his own bow. Oliver was sent flying over a table, knocking a computer monitor down as he tumbled over it to the ground. Slade stalked forward, flipping the table out of his way and hauling Oliver back to his feet. "The island didn't make you strong, kid." He hissed. "It revealed you to be weak." With that, Slade threw Oliver through the glass display case. He crashed to the ground, landing heavily on the mannequin. Oliver gasped in pain, then raised his head, looking around the Lair for Slade-

But the apparition had vanished.

"Oliver, what's wrong?" Laurel asked as she noticed her boyfriend was breathing deeply after what he'd just done.

"I thought I saw Slade." Oliver said.

"Oliver, Slade is dead. This is probably just guilt over that." Laurel said.

"No Laurel, it felt so real. Like he was actually there." Oliver said.

"Ollie, you were hallucinating. Probably from all the hours you've been clocking since Roy was abducted. Seriously, when was the last time you got some sleep?" Laurel asked and Oliver just remained silent.

"Ok Oliver, as your doctor, I am ordering you to go home and take a nap to get some sleep. You're no good to anyone if you run yourself ragged." Sara said, making it clear that was doctor's orders.

"Call me if you get anything on Roy." Oliver said as he walked out.

"Don't even think about calling him, whoever took Roy, I can handle it." Laurel said, wondering why Oliver was hallucinating Slade Wilson.

* * *

Quentin, Hilton and Joe were leading a task force to where the perp from the Queen Consolidated was hiding out, thanks to a tip that Joe had gotten from the Flash, not that Quentin or anyone else was willing to admit that the Flash was real.

""Are you sure he's in?" Lance asked a female officer.

"Yes, sir. Sector car spotted Cyrus Gold entering." She replied. "He hasn't left."

"Safeties off." Lance ordered. One of the SWAT men popped the lock off the door, and the small team entered. They looked around what looked to be a carpentry shop, shining their lights and trying to find the suspect.

Suddenly a sawblade flew through the air and impaled one of the SWAT officers.

The other cops looked up just as Gold dropped down between to cops. He shoved the female officer hard, throwing her across the room and into several barrels. He grabbed the second one's arm, twisting it and forcing the shotgun away. He kicked a desk, sending it crashing into another officer, who was sent flying into a wall. Gold broke the arm he was holding, then picked the SWAT officer up and threw him across the room like a ragdoll before vanishing into the darkness.

Hilton and Lance walked over to the female officer. Hilton knelt down and felt for a pulse, then shook his head mournfully at Lance when he found none. The two officers then moved back into the shop to find Gold.

"As Lance moved in deeper, suddenly several boxes fell onto him, sending him to his knees. And then Gold was there, grasping him by the neck and picking him up one-handed, pinning him to a stack of wood. Lance threw a few ineffectual punches, but then spotted something- a ring of keys on his belt. Lance ripped them free just as Hilton came around and opened fire on Gold. Cyrus dropped Lance, who fell to the ground, unconscious.

Hilton looked in vain for Gold, who had once again vanished into the shadows- but then he was there. He grabbed Hilton's gun hand and twisted, the pain sending Hilton to his knees. Slowly he forced the gun back, so that it was under Hilton's chin- then pulled the trigger, killing the cop.

"We need to get the hell out of here." Joe shouted, right as the Black Canary appeared.

"Get him out of here, I'll handle him." Black Canary said to Joe, who nodded and pulled her father to safety as she began to fight Gold.

* * *

"Welcome back man." John said to Oliver as he entered the foundry, looking a bit more well rested.

"Thanks man. But I still don't think that was a hallucination I saw." Oliver said and John nodded.

Dig contemplated his friend for a moment. "When I got home from Afghanistan, I saw a ghost, too." He admitted. "Survivor's guilt. Why us, not them." He explained.

"I know why." Oliver argued.

"Then the 'why's' not your problem." Diggle told him.

"How'd you make your ghost go away?" he asked.

"I figured out what they were trying to tell me." Dig said.

"Which was?" Oliver asked hopefully.

Diggle smiled sadly at him. "That's for me to hear, Oliver." He said. "You have to figure out what yours is trying to tell you."

Before Oliver could respond the sensors on Laurel's suit showed that she was in distress.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked.

"We got a hit on Gold and since you were too passed out, Laurel decided to go after him and Roy alone." John said.

"I'm going to back her up." Oliver said immediately moving to gear up.

* * *

Up at the Langford Asylum, Gold was preparing to kill Black Canary while Brother Blood approached Roy with a syringe full of Mirakuru.

But before Gold could kill her, suddenly there was an explosion. A large hunk of the ceiling fell into the room, and from the hole dropped The Arrow. Langford clumsily drew a gun to shoot the vigilante, but an arrow to the leg took him down. Oliver drew another arrow and held it on Blood.

"Brother Cyrus told me he killed you." Blood said.

"Guess he's not as strong as you'd hoped." The Arrow growled. "Where'd you get the Mirakuru? Who gave you the formula?!" Oliver demanded.

"It was a gift." Blood said, holding the hypo almost lovingly as Roy screamed in pain. "A gift I would use to save this city from itself."

Cyrus rushed Oliver, who turned and fired his arrow. The arrow hit Gold in the shoulder, but didn't slow him down at all. Oliver grabbed the line he had rappelled down on and swung around it, hoping to land a kick to his head- but Gold grabbed him by the leg and tossed him across the room. He hit the concrete wall, indenting the concrete, and then collapsed to the ground.

Roy continued to writhe in pain as the bloody tears started to fall, and Blood leaned down close, watching the process eagerly.

Across the room, Oliver grasped desperately for his bow, grabbing it just as Gold kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him sliding across the floor. He bounced off a concrete pillar, and then crashed into a desk. He shook his head to clear it, looking up as Blood felt for a pulse on Roy.

"Another failure." Blood said, disappointed.

"Oliver collapsed back down to the ground, seemingly defeated. How would he explain this to Thea? Would he get the chance?

"Get up, Oliver." a familiar voice said and Oliver looked up to see his father looking down at him.

"Dad." Oliver said, barely managing to get up.

"You're not going to die down here." his father said.

"Dad, it's my fault you're dad." Oliver said shamefully.

Robert smiled at his son and said "I was the one who made that choice Oliver. I chose to sacrifice myself so you could live to right my wrongs and you did. You beat the island. You beat the freighter. You stopped the Undertaking and you beat Merlyn. So get up Oliver. Get up and fight back like you always do. Fight back what you are. A hero."

Oliver felt his doubts fall away as he got up, filled with newfound strength.

Cyrus rushed in to kill Oliver, but he jumped up out of the way. He landed a punch, ducked Gold and punched again. He then let loose with a furious combination, sending the stronger man stumbling back. He ducked another wild swing, and then hit a reverse crescent kick, sending Gold stumbling back to the centrifuge. Oliver spun, drew an explosive arrow and fired at the centrifuge, blowing it up. The resulting detonation destroyed the device, sent more of the roof crashing down, crushing Langston, and sent a spray of chemicals into Gold's face. The man screamed in pain as the chemicals began eating away at the skin. He fell back against the wall just as more concrete came crashing down on top of him, killing him.


	18. Chapter 18

Blood, enraged but helpless, took off, leaving Green Arrow alone- except he wasn't. Green Arrow dropped down besides Roy, whose chair had tipped over and quickly cut his bindings free. He pulled him away from the chair and started chest compressions.

"Come on, Roy." He muttered as Black Canary joined him.

"Hey. I am not leaving anyone else to die!" he yelled.

"You're strong, kid. Come on! Come on!" he said in time with the compressions.

"Come on, Roy! Fight." He grasped his head in both hand and shook him.

"Come on, fight!" he shouted.

Suddenly Roy began gasping, then coughing. Green Arrow sat back, relieved and he looked at Black Canary, both of them knowing this meant.

* * *

When Roy woke up, he found himself in Thea's bed back in the Queen Manor when Thea suddenly entered the room and launched herself at him.

"Where have you been?" Thea demanded in a panicked tone. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"I was…" his mind flashed back to the man in the mask giving him the injection. "I was running down another lead." He told her. "It didn't pan out."

"Don't ever do that again." Thea said as she planted kisses all over his face, not noticing Oliver and Laurel looking at them concernedly.

* * *

Later on that evening, Oliver, John, Laurel, Thea, Sara and Tommy were all gathered in the foundry.

""Still have a ghost problem?" Dig asked, causing everyone to look at Oliver, confused.

"I'll explain later, and to answer your question John, No." Oliver said. "I got the message."

"I sense a but coming." Sara said.

"But we… we have other problems." He said, walking over to the weapons case and putting his bow away.

"Wouldn't be us if we didn't." Dig noted wryly.

"Roy was injected with the serum." Laurel revealed.

"Oh, my God, is he ok?" Thea asked.

Oliver sighed. "He's alive." He said. "But we are going to have to keep an eye on him."

"And Cyrus Gold?" Dig asked.

"Died on Saturday, buried on Sunday." Oliver said. "But he was working with someone. I saw him; he wore a mask with the image of…of a skull." He looked to his friends. "He's trying to mass produce the serum to build an army."

"For what?" Dig asked.

"You're a soldier. What's the primary purpose of an army?" Laurel asked.

"War." John said and Oliver nodded as he pulled out a vial of blood and handed it to Sara.

"What's this?" Sara asked.

"It's a sample of Roy's blood I took from him at the warehouse." Oliver said.

"Why are you giving me this?" Sara asked.

"Because a cure does exist for the Mirakuru, but it's been destroyed. Our best hope is if you and Caitlin at Star Labs can separate the drug from Roy's blood and reverse engineer an antidote from it." Laurel said and Sara nodded.

"We'll to work on it." Sara said and Oliver nodded as they listened to the TV about Sebastian Blood announcing his candidacy for Mayor.

* * *

A man sat in a well-appointed office, watching a news broadcast of Sebastian Blood's announcement to run for mayor.

'I want to serve the people of Starling, not the men and women who think they own it.' Sebastian was saying in the previously taped conference. 'Together, we can help rebuild our city into a place where there are no elites and no oppressed. Where we are all brothers and sisters.' The man turned off the TV as Blood himself walked into the office.

"So your campaign begins." He said.

"The city needs a leader." Blood said. "And putting the copycat hoods up to assassinating the mayor was just the first step."

He took a few steps closer to the desk. "The Vigilante..." he began. "He destroyed the centrifuge and the serum along with it."

"I will arrange for you to receive another sample of my blood, and then you can begin to mass produce the serum again." The man said. "When I ask you not to confront the Vigilante, you will listen. Remember, your mask can be worn by another." He warned.

"You know who he is under that hood, don't you?" Blood asked.

"I know exactly who he is." Slade Wilson said. "He's my friend."

"That's why you don't want him dead." Blood said in realization.

"Death would be a release from this life, and his sentence is yet to be carried out." Slade said. "I am going to tear everything he cares about away from him. Destroy those who choose to follow him, Corrupt those he loves, And once he has lost everyone and everything he values- I will drive an arrow through his eye." Slade said, reaching up to his face to feel his eyepatch in the same place that Oliver Queen had driven an arrow through 5 years ago.

"And the woman in black?" Blood asked.

"She will suffer just as much as he will. But her suffering, it will end much sooner, as I know who she is as well and she is the one he loves the most. And I will take great pleasure in killing her, right in front of him." Slade said.


	19. Chapter 19

The memory set opened down in the warehouse district. A man was driving through a sawmill, dodging around stacks of equipment and lumber, when suddenly he slammed to a stop. Ahead of him, just stepping off of his motorcycle, was The Green Arrow. The man snarled and hit the gas, while at the same time pulling out his Desert Eagle and firing out of his window.

The shots all went wide, the massive .50 cal handgun impossible to control with one hand while driving. Green Arrow just stood there, unmoving, before finally drawing an explosive arrow and firing it into the car's engine. The warhead exploded, sending a show of sparks up that blinded the driver, and the car swerved off to the left flipping over on some pipes before sliding on its roof into a stack of wood.

The Green Arrow approached the car cautiously, drawing another arrow. He peered into the car, only to find it empty. He looked up to see the man limping rapidly into the mill and followed. He stayed on the catwalks, following cautiously behind the driver, ducking behind steel posts as the man turned and fired. He ran up a gantry to the top of a crane and watched as the man reloaded his gun. Then, as soon as he looked up, Green Arrow fired a bolo arrow at the man's feet. The compressed high-tension wire wrapped itself around the man's ankles, and Green Arrow jumped off the platform, pulling the line taught as he dropped. The man was lifted eight feet into the air by the time that Green Arrow landed softly on the ground, and he released some of the line to bring him down eye-to-eye. He grasped the man's hand and twisted, putting pressure on his wrist.

"Whoa, oh, ahh! Ahh!" the driver screamed in pain.

"The man in the skull mask, who is he?!" the Arrow demanded.

"I-I don't know!" the man protested.

"You're the biggest street dealer in Crescent Circle." The Arrow replied. "You know everything that goes on over there. Who is he?!"

"I ain't seen the guy before! A skull mask, are you freaking kidding me?! Come on, man, I'm still on parole!" he protested fearfully.

"Not anymore." Green Arrow said before slugging him into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Please tell me you guys have had more luck finding the guy in the skull mask than I have?" Oliver asked when he entered the Foundry to see both Laurel and Thea there, both of them suited up, but not wearing their masks and looking defeated.

"None whatsoever, whoever this guy is, he knows how to stay out of sight." Laurel said as John walked in.

""Same as every other pointed conversation I have with these lowlifes in Crescent Circle." Oliver said in aggravation as he put up his bow. "Nobody has seen a man in a skull mask. But he's still out there."

"Oliver, for the past five weeks, you've pushed yourself and the rest of us pretty hard looking for this guy." Diggle pointed out.

"He has the Mirakuru, Diggle!" Oliver exclaimed. "I mean, you saw what it took to kill one guy that had been injected. We practically had to drop a building on him. So imagine ten or a hundred, imagine a thousand."

"I'm not disagreeing with you Ollie, since I know how dangerous that stuff is just as much as you do, but we can't just run ourselves ragged searching for him, we do have lives outside this place." Laurel said.

""You said Roy was injected." Thea pointed out.

Oliver sighed. "Yeah."

"I've just never seen you spooked like this before." Dig said.

"That should tell you something." Oliver said pointedly, before grabbing his jacket and walking off.

"It really should, but I'm worried that he'll burn himself out. You guys take some time off and Thea, keep a close eye on Roy, let us know if anything about him changes." Laurel said and Thea nodded.

* * *

Laurel was currently at the DA's office, doing some research when she heard someone approach her.

She turned around, expecting to see Adam Donner, but to her surprise, it was supposed next mayor of Starling City, Sebastian Blood.

"Mr. Blood, what can I do for you?" Laurel asked.

"Please, call me Sebastian. Now I think a better question is what can I do for you? Seriously, considering you're one of the only people still here this late, it's clear that you need a drink." Blood said.

"Sebastian, if you're asking me out on a date, while I am of course flattered, you do know that I have boyfriend right. He's on the news all the time for charity work." Laurel said.

"Relax, I just want to talk business. That's all. I think that employees should get to know their future boss." Blood said and Laurel smiled at him.

"Let me run home and change. Text me the place you want to meet up at and I'll meet you there." Laurel said.

"Great. Sounds like a plan." Blood said as he walked away.

"Checkmate." Laurel said with a grin as she looked back at what she was looking at and saw it was her investigation into Sebastian Blood.

* * *

"What do you mean you're going for drinks with Sebastian Blood?" Oliver asked Laurel.

"Relax, I'm just following up on a hunch." Laurel said, getting his attention.

"Really, what sort of hunch?" Oliver asked.

"I've just been doing some investigating." Laurel explained. "Blood had a connection to the Langford Psychiatric Institute. The one that burnt down under very 'mysterious circumstances'."

"One the police are officially saying was inconclusive." Oliver said, noting that he already knew that.

"But Blood also knew Cyrus Gold." Laurel said.

"I'm not seeing the connection here." Oliver said.

"I'm not sure what it is yet, but I know there is one between Gold and Blood and I intend to find it." Laurel said.

"Good luck." Oliver said.

"Thanks, let me know if there any developments on your end." Laurel said.

"Will do." Oliver agreed as he kissed her cheek.


	20. Chapter 20

Oliver was currently sitting on the couch in the parlor of the mansion when his mother approached him.

"Oliver, I thought you'd be out right now." Moira said with a smile.

"Wasn't in the mood." Oliver said.

"So you're not going hunting tonight?" Moira asked.

"Not yet anyways." Oliver said.

"So, what about a date with your beautiful girlfriend, who by the way is probably your relationship that I've ever liked." Moira said and Oliver smiled.

"Laurel has a business dinner." Oliver said.

"I notice she still isn't wearing a ring of any kind." Moira said and Oliver rolled his eyes at her.

"No, she isn't." Oliver said.

"What are you waiting for now? You're old excuse was that you were waiting for Thea to come out of her coma, but she's been awake for months, so now what it is it?" Moira asked.

"Now just isn't the right time to ask her, with everything that's happening." Oliver said lamely just to have his mother smile at him.

"Oliver, considering the lives you lead, both of you, there will never truly be a right time to ask her. My advice, ask her now, since you never know if you're going to get another chance." Moira advised and Oliver nodded, deciding to think about it when his phone rang.

"Hello." Oliver said as he listened to John on the other end.

"Okay, call Thea, tell her to meet me there. Sounds like her skillset will come in particularly handy." Oliver said as he got up and left.

* * *

When Green Arrow and Tsunami arrived, they found an entire building in flames.

"Anyone in the building?" Green Arrow asked John, who had taken to working mission support.

"Cleaning crew and a group of bankers working out a late night deal." Diggle replied.

"Can you patch into the police and fire. We need to know where it's worse." Tsunami said.

"On it. Not as good as Laurel, but I can handle this." Dig said and after a few minutes he was in.

"There are still people on the 5th floor, but it's too hot, the Fire department can't get to them." Dig said.

"Tsunami, see if you can cool it down." Green Arrow said.

"Copy that." Tsunami said as she summoned her water slide and headed to the hot zone and began spraying it with water, dousing the fire to the point that the fire department could handle it and she moved in to save the hostages.

"Any sign of the arsonist?" Green Arrow asked.

"Negative." Dig said.

"Copy that. The SCFD can handle it from here." Green Arrow said as Tsunami joined them after delivering some of the victims to the ground.

"Let's move." she said as they left.

* * *

Oliver walked into Queen Consolidated the next morning to find John and surprisingly, Barry, waiting for him.

"You ok?" Diggle asked in greeting. "Long night?"

"Yeah." Oliver replied heading into his office. "News report said the bomber didn't steal any money."

"I think this guy just wants to make a statement." Dig said, handing a tablet to Oliver. "That went online an hour ago. His manifesto. 300 pages of anti-government hate." Oliver glanced at the vitriol. "You think this psycho's any way connected to our psycho in the skull mask?" Dig asked.

"This guy has a completely separate agenda." Oliver stated. "He's a lone wolf, but we need to find him before he finds his next target."

"I'd start with the bomb." Dig suggested. "Everyone's unique. Maybe we can get some kind of signature on the guy. But the bomb residue is with the SCPD."

"Fortunately you have an in with one of the officers at the department." The two men looked over to look at Barry.

"I forgot you worked as a CSI to the Police. Think you can get us the forensics on the bomb used?" Oliver asked.

"Why do you think I'm here?" Barry said as he discreetly handed Oliver a file.

"What's this?" Oliver asked.

"A copy of all the forensics I got from the case. Sorry I couldn't help out with the fire last night." Barry said.

"It's fine, Thea and I had it under control, thanks to her powers. Remember, just because you're fast does not mean you should learn fast. Take your time and only handle things you know you're ready for, since right now at least, I'm sure what you could've done." Oliver said and Barry nodded.

"Speaking of which, I'd better get back to the SCPD before Singh or Pike notices I'm gone." Barry said as he headed out.

"Good to have guys in both the force and crime lab on speed dial." John noted.

"You're telling me. Especially when it also gives us contact with the only other non evil metas in this city." Oliver agreed.

* * *

Laurel was currently having another meeting with Sebastian Blood over lunch and he could something was eating at her.

"Laurel, if there's something on your mind, give it voice." Blood said, raising from his seat and donning his jacket. "I don't bite. I promise."

Laurel took a breath. "You know my father's with the department." She began.

"Yes."

"He said the suspect that he was investigating when he and his partner were attacked was a man named Cyrus Gold." She revealed.

Blood nodded, and then sat on the edge of the desk. "Cyrus Gold was a preacher at the orphanage where I was raised." He explained. "Cyrus was a very good friend to me- like an older brother. Or even a father figure, to be honest. He was the first person I said a word to, and this was after a month of not speaking at all."

"You talk a lot about being an orphan, but you don't talk about your parents." Laurel asked gently. "Did you know them?"

"My father was a very unhappy man." Blood revealed after a moment. "One night he came home soaked in whiskey. He lost his job again, so he broke my mother's arm. I tried to stop him, but he threw me off. And the next thing I saw was my mother holding my father's gun in her hand. And I watched her shoot him." He revealed to Laurel's shock. "She panicked. Ran and was gone before the police even arrived. It was the last time I saw my parents."

"I don't know Why Cyrus' life took the turn that it did, I'm sad to say." Blood said, rising from the desk. "All I know is that he helped a very young, very frightened boy find his voice again." An assistant knocked on the doorframe to get his attention; the press was waiting. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. More later?" Laurel smiled and nodded, and Blood exited the room. After he left, Laurel did her best to compose herself, fighting back her tears of sadness for his suffering.

As she did, she spied something on his desk. Looking out the windows and seeing that Blood was occupied with the press, Laurel moved closer to the desk and looked at a stack of invoices on his desk. One was marked from St. Walker's Hospital, and addressed to someone named Maya Resik. Laurel filed the information away in her mind, placed the invoice back down, and headed out of the office.


	21. Chapter 21

At Verdant, Roy was moving boxes in the store room when Thea walked in.

"Didn't hear you come in." she said.

"Yeah, sorry, I- I got here early." He replied, grabbing another box. "I just want to get these crates unpacked before lunch."

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said dismissively. "Just…I haven't been sleeping much lately. I got a lot on my mind."

 _Like being injected with an unstable super soldier serum?_ Thea thought.

Thea sat down on a keg. "You want to talk about it?" she offered.

"Talk about what?" Roy said, still shifting boxes.

"Whatever's been going on with you the last five weeks." Thea clarified.

"Look, I'm fine." Roy protested shortly.

"Roy, ever since you came back from wherever you were after you disappeared, you've been acting weird. Is this about the Green Arrow again?" Thea asked.

"This isn't about the Green Arrow." Roy said.

"Is it me?" she asked. "Is it us?"

Roy set the box down hard and spun back towards her. "Look, I really just want to get through this, ok?" he said hotly.

"Ok." Thea said sadly, rising from the keg. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

Roy sighed as she turned to walk out of the room "Thea." He called out, stopping her. "You do help." He told her. "Every day. And honestly, right now you're the only thing that's keeping me together."

Thea exhaled. "I do what I can." She said.

"How did I get to be so lucky?" Roy asked.

"You…stole my purse." She said with a grin.

"Hmm." Roy grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in. The two started making out passionately, each trying to dominate the other. Thea wrapped her legs around Roy's waist, and he picked her up with ease, spinning around and pinning her to the shelves. They started to grind against one another, their passions escalating, the shelves shaking more…

"Then a box full of empty glasses toppled off the top shelf. Roy saw it out of the corner of his eye and spun around again, pushing Thea out of the way and raising an arm to block as the box crashed into his head and arm. He fell to the ground, momentarily dazed.

"Roy?!" Thea exclaimed from the floor where she had fallen.

Roy looked up at his girlfriend, shaking his head to clear it. "Thea, are you ok?"

"Yeah." She hurried over to him. Roy sat up, holding up his arm to see a large, jagged piece of glass sticking out of it. He stared at it, incredulous.

* * *

"I was surprised to get your call." Green Arrow said as he turned to see Detective Joe West standing in the same alley as him.

"When Barry told me that you were helping out with the bombing case, figured I'd help you out as much as I could." Joe said as he held out a small evidence bag.

"What's this?" Green Arrow asked.

"That's a sample of everything the CSU collected from the blast. There's melted glass, multiple explosive fragments, and trace residue, and it looks like nitroglycerine. Which means that we're dealing with more than just a basement nutjob." Joe said and Green Arrow nodded..

"Someone with training." Green Arrow concurred. "Thank you, Detective." He turned and walked off, ready to shoot a line to the next building, when Joe's voice stopped him.

"I need a favor, too." Green Arrow turned back around. "The son of a bitch who killed Hilton and the rest of my unit..."

"He's dead." Oliver told him.

"And whoever tipped him off, told him we were coming, he's doing just fine." Joe replied.

""What do you need?" Oliver asked.

"Cell phone records for every cop in my precinct." Joe responded.

"You think there's a leak in the department?" Oliver asked, surprised.

"I think those phone records are the only way to know for sure." Joe said.

"Why not have your friends at STAR labs do this?" Green Arrow asked.

"Because something tells me that you and your friends can get this done a lot more discreetly." Joe said and Green Arrow had to give him that.

"We'll see what we can do." Green Arrow agreed, but before Joe could respond, they both heard and saw a massive explosion rocked the top floors of a building downtown. The two men watched in horror as the flames rose high into the night's sky.

Joe yanked his radio off his belt. "DC-52 to Central, 10-80, downtown!" He called out as he headed back down the stairs.

Oliver was moving as well, hitting his com link. "He's hit again."

"Starling City Municipal Building." Diggle said after a moment.

"Give me a location." Oliver demanded.

"I'll give you one better- I'm checking the surrounding cell towers." Laurel said. "There was a GSM spike of 3,800 megahertz two seconds before the blast. That frequency's way outside the approved frequency for U.S. carriers." she typed rapidly into her computer, and soon she had a lock on the signal's source. "Signal's moving. I think he's mobile."

"Give me an intersection!" Oliver commanded, taking off at a dead run for his bike.

Several minutes later, The Arrow was blasting down the road on his Ducati as Laurel directed him.

'Right in front of you, 400 meters.' She told him over the com line. Oliver looked and saw a white panel van sitting at a stoplight.

"I see him." He said.

In the van, the bomber saw the bike approaching. Panicking, he hit the gas and sped through the red light, narrowly avoiding getting hit and sending cars skidding out of control. The Arrow was right behind him, deftly avoiding the obstacles. He started to gain, but then the van made a hard left onto a side street.

'Turn left on 67th.' Laurel said.

The two sped down the streets, bobbing and weaving in and out of traffic. The bomber looked in his side mirror to see the Vigilante gaining, and reached into a bad on the passenger seat. Withdrawing a grenade, he pulled the pin and waited a few seconds before throwing it out the window. On his bike, Oliver saw it coming and hopped off the seat and hung over the side, using the bike to shield him from the explosion as he let it carry him past while his boots started to smoke from the asphalt.

He hopped back on the seat and gunned the engine, racing to catch up again. In the van, the man grabbed a smoke grenade and tossed it out. Oliver raced forward, blowing through the smoke cloud- but the van was gone.

"Laurel, I've lost him." Green Arrow said.

"So have I. This guy's good." Laurel said.

"I'm on my way back now." Green Arrow said as he headed towards Verdant.

* * *

 **AN: Just a little thought I had that I wanted to get the general opinion on. What you guys think if in the conclusion of this story, Deathstroke actually teamed up with the Reverse-Flash?**


	22. Chapter 22

"Any ideas on how our bomber is doing this?" Oliver asked as he entered the Foundry.

"My best guess would be some sort of cellular technology that expands beyond just detonation, he can also scramble the signals." Laurel said.

"Sounds like there's more coming?" Oliver asked.

"Whatever this guy is using is beyond me and you're going to need all hands on deck to deal with him." Laurel said.

"What are you saying?" Oliver asked.

"I'm saying that you should probably think about bringing in some new tech support so that I can get back in the field full time." Laurel said.

"I'll think about it. But anyways, how's your investigation into Sebastian Blood going?" Oliver asked.

"Slowly. Sebastian's good at keeping things secret, but I might have a lead at Langford." Laurel said.

"Why would you have a lead on Blood at the loony bin?" Oliver asked.

"Blood's aunt is there, but I want to see if she's really crazy or if something else is at play." Laurel said.

"Don't forget the lie detector." Oliver said and Laurel grinned as she began to head out.

"Laurel." Oliver said.

"Yeah?" Laurel asked.

"When we're done with this bomber, why don't we go out to dinner. It's been awhile since we've had a date night." Oliver said and Laurel smiled.

"I'd like that a lot." Laurel agreed as she headed out.

* * *

Later on that night, Moira was watching Sebastian Blood on TV at the Manor when Oliver joined her.

'Over the last few days, our resolve has been tested.' Blood was saying on TV. 'But all of you continue to prove that the only way we keep on-"

Moira looked up and smiled as Oliver walked into the room. "Ah, you're just in time to see the show." She said.

"What's he doing?" Oliver asked.

"Bringing the city together." Moira replied. "And if I'm not mistaken, campaigning."

'Tomorrow night, I am holding Starling's first ever unity rally at City Plaza. We are going to show the world that the people of this great city will not back down to terrorists.'

Oliver stared at the screen incredulously. "He's committing suicide and he just invited the entire city to join him."

"Sounds oddly suspicious given the bombing attacks that have been happening recently." Moira agreed.

"Laurel's been digging into Blood lately and while I used to think it was crazy, now I'm thinking she might be onto something here." Oliver said as he pulled out his phone and began dialing.

Sebastian's your friend. Can't you talk him out of this, Oliver?" Moira asked as Oliver was in between making calls.

Oliver sighed. "Well, he won't listen to me."

* * *

The scene changed to Blood's campaign headquarters later that night. Sebastian was the last one in the building, working late at his desk when suddenly the power went off. Sebastian looked around in confusion, one hand still holding the phone that had just gone dead, when a voice suddenly spoke from the darkness.

"Sebastian Blood." Blood slammed the phone down and reached under his desk, grabbing the gun that was mounted there as Green Arrow stepped into his office. "This rally tomorrow night, you need to call it off." The vigilante ordered.

"This event, Mr. Blood, you might as well be painting a giant bulls eye on your chest." The Arrow said.

Blood composed himself, sitting up straighter in his seat. "This city needs to come together." He said. "And I need to show them how."

"You won't be able to show them anything if you're dead." Oliver pointed out.

"Every night, you risk your life for the people of this city." Blood stated. "How can you expect me to do any less?"

"And what about the lives of the people coming to your rally?"

"This rally is about Starling City standing up and declaring with one voice that living afraid isn't living." Blood said heartedly. "I won't send a contrary message to people telling them to stay home, to stay scared. I've made my decision."

"That's the thing, alderman whatever happens tomorrow night, it's not up to you." Green Arrow said, melding back into the shadows. A moment later, the power came back on. Blood blinked, looking around the suddenly bright office, but the vigilante was nowhere to be seen. Satisfied, he sat back down, contemplating.

* * *

Oliver had asked for everyone to meet at STAR labs, since he felt that this warranted everyone's attention, not just his team, plus the additional tech support couldn't hurt.

"What was so dire you needed us to meet here?" Thea asked as she looked at Cisco, Barry, Caitlin, Iris, Joe and Wells, along with Tommy, Laurel and John.

"This is bigger than either team can handle alone, since I think that we call agree that Blood holding this rally is basically begging for the bomber to make another move." Oliver said and they all nodded.

"We need all hands on deck for this. Speaking of which, where's Laurel?" John asked.

"I filled her in on the phone, but she's currently working an investigation into Blood and is running down a lead. I think she might be onto something with him." Oliver said.

"I will go take over the investigation for her so that she can help you guys out with this." Joe volunteered.

"Perfect. But do we have anymore leads about the bomber?" Oliver asked.

"Actually yes." Barry said.

"I analyzed the bomb remnants. The design's identical to the bombs used by an anti-government militia group called the Movement. Lucky for us, they have a very active and hackable message board." She pulled up the board to show them. "One of their most prolific fans has an IP address right here in Starling." Barry said.

"Finally, some good luck." Diggle said relieved.

"Tell me." Oliver ordered.

"The computer's in a local souvenir shop. The whackadoo in question goes by the username Shrapnel." Barry said.

"You want back-up?" Dig asked.

"No, I need you guys at the rally, but Barry, be prepared to assist me at a moment's notice." Oliver decided. "Cover our bases." they all nodded at that.

"Sounds like I picked a good time to get these done." Cisco said as he pulled out 2 more mannequins with tarps covering them.

"Iris, I finally finished your suit and Dig, I figured you'd need more protection, so I made you one to." Cisco said with a grin as he removed the tarps to reveal 2 new suits.

The one one the left was clearly for John as it was sized up to his physique and it was consisted of a helmet which was black with the larger visor, it also appeared to have a light shining on the inside for and protective black leather clothing to help him blend in the dark, with sleeves which guns can slide out. The one on the right was for Iris. This suit was a deep purple bodysuit with a large collar and purple cape, with a silver thunderstorm cloud emblem on the chest and a silver trim on the sides, along with silver gloves and boots and a purple mask.

"What do you guys think?" Cisco asked.

"I think I just found the outfit I never want to take off." Iris said and Cisco looked very pleased at the sound of that.

"John, what about you?" Cisco asked.

"I think this looks a lot more like my style than those archer outfits." John said.

"I figured you'd like something that looked more military than robin hood." Cisco said.

"You thought right." John agreed.

"You guys are going to need codenames so that you don't blow your covers." Oliver noted.

"I've already come up for one for Iris." Cisco said.

"And that is?" Iris asked.

"How do you feel about the Eye?" Cisco asked.

"If my powers were involved in my eyes, I'd say yes, but honestly, that sounds lame." Iris said.

"Okay then, how about Thunderstorm?" Cisco asked and Iris actually looked like she was considering it.

"I like it." Iris said and Cisco grinned triumphantly.

"What about you John?" Oliver asked.

"I'll think of something." John said.


	23. Chapter 23

"Green Arrow checking in. Everyone in position?" Green Arrow asked from where he was perched across from the souvenir shop Cisco had given him the address to.

"Black Canary on site." Laurel said as she walked around the venue, not in her suit of course, none of them except for Oliver were geared up at the moment, though they were prepared to change at a moment's notice.

"Tsunami on site." Thea said as she checked out the cars.

"Spartan on site." John said.

"Spartan?" Green Arrow asked.

"Thought it would sound cool with the helmet." Dig said and Green Arrow just chuckled.

"Just go with it. Flash, what's your status?" Green Arrow asked.

"Ran around the perimeter 3 times, no sign of anything and no luck pinpointing any explosives." Barry said.

"What about you Thunderstorm?" Green Arrow asked.

"Blood and his posse are clear. No signs of the bomber." Iris said.

"Cisco, what the status from the satellites?" Green Arrow asked.

"I've tasked them to search for incendiary devices, but so far nothing." Cisco said.

"Keep searching. I'm moving in." Green Arrow said as he made his move.

Blood was walking through the Plaza as the reporters tossed questions at him.

"Alderman Blood, is this not dangerous?" one asked.

"I'm afraid so." He replied.

"Why are you gathering all these people here to be targets?" another asked.

"Please, I'll get to all of your questions later." He promised, moving through the crowd and thanking the people for coming. In the crowd, Diggle also moved, looking for threats.

Across town, Green Arrow walked into the souvenir shop. He looked around, walking cautiously, looking for threats.

In an instant his bow was up and an arrow drawn and ready to fire as dozens of laser sensor beams flared to life.

'You're dead.' The voice on the speaker continued. 'Or will be if you take one more step or move a single muscle. And then you'll miss the show.' A TV flared to life, showing the coverage of the rally. 'Candidate Blood's unity rally. Already rigged with 50 pounds of RDX high explosives. Not unlike what's packed inside the drywall of my store. This city thinks Sebastian Blood can keep them safe.' Oliver glanced at the screen, and his mouth went dry as he saw Thea and Moira standing on the stairs of the plaza. 'Tonight, they learn that the only thing politicians care about protecting is their jobs.'

"Cisco." Green Arrow growled.

"Here." He said. "Did you get him?"

"No." Oliver replied quietly, still holding his bow and not moving a muscle. "He said he rigged the Plaza with an explosive device."

"Oliver, it's crazy-town there." Cisco said, looking at the feed in the Lair. "That bomb could be anywhere."

"I can narrow that down. Get me Barry." He ordered.

Cisco connected him in an instant. "Go." Barry said.

"Shrapnel said he ringed the perimeter with RDX." He told the speedster.

"I'm on it." Barry said, moving out to where he could speed undetected.

"You're heading to the Plaza, too, right?" Cisco said.

"We've got more than enough boots on the ground there. Besides, I still have more pressing issues." Green Arrow said.

"Like what?" Cisco asked.

"I need you to pull me up anything you can on the store. Blueprints, permit schematics, anything." Green Arrow said.

"What's going on?" he asked as he started pulling up plans.

"Shrapnel left behind a surprise." Oliver told him. "Said he packed the drywall with explosives, but the trigger needs to be—"

"Would need to be hooked up to some sort of power supply." He interrupted.

"Exactly." Green Arrow said.

"The building was built in the seventies." He said, ignoring him. "That's good news. The wiring in a lot of construction back then is defective. So if you sever one wire, it will blow fuses in the entire building and shot off power to the bomb."

"Hold tight." He said. "I see a fuse box."

In the shop. Oliver slowly adjusted his aim, careful to make sure the laser sensor on his arrow head followed the shaft and the bow itself, the beam never breaking. His shot finally lined up, he fired. The box exploded into sparks.

"Oliver come in, did it work? Answer." Cisco's voice said over the comms as they disconnected briefly.

"It's all right." Oliver's voice suddenly came back on, the line reconnected. In the shop, the box sparked, but the sensors were as dead as the power. "I'm all right." He assured her. "Get to the rally. Help Diggle. I'm on my way." He ordered. Taking one last glance around, he turned and ran out of the shop.

Back at the rally, all the vigilantes were now geared up, with Black Canary and Spartan staking out the high grounds of the area for Shrapnel, Tsunami and Thunderstorm were both covering the skies, since Thea's water slide gave her something similar to flight and Iris could use her air powers to fly while the Flash was checking the sound and lighting equipment for any explosives.

Down in the plaza, Sebastian Blood made his way onto the stage to a loud ovation.

"Please, please." He said, waving his arms at the crowd to quiet them. "You're the ones who deserve an ovation. Eight months ago, this city survived a devastating attack- but we rose up." Out in the Plaza, Moira looked around nervously. The last thing she needed was to be recognized in public as a perpetrator of said attack. "You rose up and banded together, just like we are tonight." Lance looked around, looking for anything suspicious. The Flash was up behind one of the standing speakers, and popped the back off an access port to find a phone connected to a large amount of RDX.

"Well I've got good news and bad news." the Flash said.

"What's the good news?" Green Arrow asked.

"Think I found the trigger." the Flash said.

"And prove to the world that we cannot be broken." Blood continued. "That the people of this city are too strong. And that no bomb and no earthquake is strong enough to tear us apart." Thea, in front with Moira and Roy, nodded in agreement.

"Oliver said that the whole place was ringed with explosives." Black Canary said as she and Spartan came up to the Flash.

"It's in the sound equipment." He told her, and then indicated the phone. "And this is the trigger."

"Shrapnel activates it by cellular transmission." Black Canary said.

"Listen, we don't have to disarm it, just disable it." Spartan noted.

"I can do that." Black Canary said, then added, "I think. I hope."

"Listen, you be careful." Dig said as she examined the device. "He probably put in a safeguard. Tampering with it will set off a dead man's switch."

"No doubt about it. Fortunately, this isn't my first rodeo." Black Canary said, preparing to put her tech expertise to good use.

"Step away." They turned to see Shrapnel standing there. In one hand he held a phone; in the other a gun. "Or we all know how this ends."

"One nutjob against 2 metas and an armed vigilante? You didn't think this one through did you?" Black Canary asked.

"Oh but I did. If I see any of you so much as make a move, this whole place goes kaboom." Shrapnel said.

Spartan suddenly rushed Shrapnel, but he was too far away. Shrapnel fired, hitting Dig in the shoulder, and the bodyguard went down just as Green Arrow pulled up to the scene. The shot had sent people running and screaming, and the police grabbed Blood and pulled him off the stage. Shrapnel pulled a grenade out of his coat, pulled the pin, and threw- but Green Arrow was faster, shooting the grenade and causing it to detonate in mid-air.

Down in the plaza, the explosion caused a steel lighting tower to break free from its moorings, and Thea watched in horror as it fell right towards her mother. She immediately headed over to stop it, only to have someone beat her to it. Roy, without hesitation, ran to Moira and pulled her down, protecting her with his body. The steel framework smashed into Roy's back, but the boy didn't flinch. To Thea's astonished horror, Roy pushed back, lifting the heavy framework enough to push Moira clear. He then stood and ran free, shrugging the tower off like nothing.

"Thank you Roy." Tsunami sighed in relief, her voice disguised, happy her mother was safe.

"Don't mention it." Roy shrugged.

"Are you ok ma'am?" Thea asked her mother.

"I'm ok. I'm ok." She told her daughter. Thea moved back and looked at Roy in shock as the boy himself stood, stunned by what had happened.

In the upper plaza, Shrapnel was running from Green Arrow as the vigilante pursued him on his bike. He turned and fired, missing, but causing Oliver to swerve and duck. He kept firing as he ran, but Green Arrow finally caught up to him, skidding his bike into the terrorist and sending him crashing to the ground. Green Arrow skidded to a stop, then spun his bike around to face the mad bomber before climbing off, readying his bow.

Shrapnel staggered to his feet. Oliver drew an arrow back as he turned to face him. In his hand was a detonator connected by a wire to something in his jacket. "Drop the bow!" he ordered. "I've got charges planted all over Starling. I drop this stick, they all blow." He threatened. Green Arrow stood their silent, not moving an inch. "Did you just hear what I said?"

"Yep." Green Arrow replied, adjusting his aim slightly and firing. Green Arrow sliced through the cord, disabling the trigger. Shrapnel looked down at the cut cord in stunned amazement, and even as he futilely pressed the trigger again and again, Green Arrow calmly walked up and smashed him in the face with his bow.


	24. Chapter 24

"Can I ask what exactly this visit is for Detective West?" a doctor asked Joe as she led him through Langford.

"Just helping a friend in the DA's office follow up a hunch on an investigation." Joe said.

"Okay then, you know the rules. "You can ask all the questions you want, but I wouldn't count on getting anything back." She advised the cop. "She probably won't even know you're there." She unlocked the door and let Joe in. "I'll be down the hall if you need anything." She told Joe before closing the door.

Maya sat in the corner, singing to herself softly in Spanish. Joe approached slowly, as not to startle the woman. "Maya? I'm here to talk about your nephew." He started. The woman gave no reply, merely continued singing softly. "Maya, my name's Joe West. Maya?" she knelt down in front of the woman. "I'm here to talk about your nephew. Maya?" he listened to the song, and tried a different approach. "Maya, que Chico? Que Chico? Sebastian?"

Maya finally looked up. "Sebastian." She said.

Joe smiled in relief. "Yes, yes. Sebastian Blood."

"Maya, can you talk to me about Sebastian?" Joe asked, even as Maya pressed herself deeper into the corner. "It's ok. You can trust me." She told her. "Ok? Sebastian is my friend."

Suddenly Maya reached out and grabbed onto Joes hands tightly. "Sebastian is the devil." She said hotly. "He the one who put me here. He made everybody think I'm insane."

"But why would he do that?" Joe asked.

"He killed his father." Maya said. "And I was there. I saw it."

"Oh, my God." Joe said, realization crashing down on him as he took a look at the lie detector that Laurel had given him when he told her he was going to take over investigating Blood so she could focus more on this new super serum thing. "Sebastian isn't your nephew, he's your son."

* * *

At Verdant, Roy was sitting at the bar of the empty club, watching the news as Shrapnel was led away in cuffs when Thea walked up to him.

"Hey." He said, rising to greet her. "How's your mom?"

"She's fine. Just a little shaken up." Thea replied. "You saved her."

"I got lucky." Roy said quickly.

Thea shook her head. "That wasn't luck." She said. "That was impossible.

Even though she was the one who could control water with her mind.

"You know those stories of mom's lifting cars to save their kids? Things you can do when adrenaline hits." Roy tried. "It was… it was one of those."

Thea sighed, and was about to let it go when she saw something else that astounded her. "Your arm." She exclaimed, grabbing his arm that had been cut earlier. "There's not even a mark." She said, staring at the unblemished skin.

Roy yanked his arm free. "It's…I heal fast. It's fine." He lied.

"Right." Thea said unbelievingly.

"I'm kind of tired." Roy said. "It's been a long night, you know. I gotta go." Roy hurriedly walked past her to the exit.

"Roy." Thea tried, but her boyfriend ignored her as he walked out of the door.

* * *

Oliver and Laurel had just come back from dinner and Laurel had to admit, they'd really needed that date night.

"That was fun, we should try to do date night more often." Laurel said.

"We should." Oliver agreed as his hand slid into his pocket and pulled out the little surprise he'd been saving till they were alone.

"Is there something else?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah, there's actually something I need to ask you, something that I should've done a long time ago." Oliver said as he held out the ring.

"Ollie, is this?" Laurel asked and Oliver nodded as he got down on one knee.

"Dinah Laurel Lance, will you marry me?" Oliver asked.

"Yes." Laurel said in an instant, causing Oliver to grin as he slid the ring onto her finger.

"It's beautiful." Laurel said.

"Thea decided to have it inscribed before I could stop her. Check what she had written." Oliver said with a chuckle and when Laurel found the inscription, she laughed to.

"Dear Laurel, it's about time, love Oliver." Laurel said.

"I tried to get it changed, but then I thought it might be funny." Oliver said Laurel laughed.

"I love it just the way it is, especially since the inscription speaks the truth." Laurel said and Oliver smiled.

"Better late than never though right?" He asked.

"So true." Laurel agreed as she kissed him, right as their phones went off.

"That's Joe. I guess he found something on Blood. Let's go." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.

* * *

"So, Blood killed his father in front of his mother, and then had his mother committed, saying she was his aunt and making people think she was crazy?" Oliver asked after Joe had filled them all in.

"Yeah, and even without the lie detector, I could tell from how she was talking that she wasn't lying." Joe said.

"So what do we do with this now?" Cisco asked.

"Right now, we can't do anything, since it might look strange if this evidence popped up out of nowhere with no justifiable cause. We have to be smart about it and play the long game. Whatever Sebastian is up to, it probably connects to our more pressing concern." Oliver said as he looked over to Caitlin and Sara.

"Any luck on the vaccine?" He asked.

"None yet, whatever this stuff is, it's tough to crack, but we will find a way." Sara said.

"Good." Oliver said.


	25. Chapter 25

"So, we have proof that Sebastian Blood killed his father and then made his mother, who saw the whole thing, look insane in order to cover his tracks. Why exactly aren't we making a move now?" Barry asked.

"Slow down Flash, we can't rush into this. We have to play the long game." Oliver said, since after they'd started working with Star Labs, the Foundry had sort of become a secondary base with STAR labs being their main headquarters, since it was large with plenty of space, cutting edge technology and was one of the places in Starling City that no one wanted to be in.

"Why not? My dad hands this confession over to Singh or Pike and we easily get Blood arrested." Iris said.

"Except that Blood could defend that his mother, or aunt, as he calls her on the forms, is the testimony of an insane woman. And he could also question why Joe was even questioning her in the first place. We can't just rush into things blindly, we have to be smart and play the long game." Oliver said, since he had taken over as the leader of both teams, or rather the whole team now.

"Mr. Queen is correct, we cannot run into a situation like this blindly, we need to be smart about it." Wells agreed as Thea joined them.

"Hey where've you been?" Oliver asked his sister.

"Keeping an eye on Roy and I think I'm starting to see the negatives of that Mirakuru after all." Thea said.

"What happened?" Oliver asked.

"He put a guy in the hospital. I think it's time you step in." Thea said and Oliver nodded before looking at Caitlin.

"Caitlin, how's the antidote coming?" Oliver asked.

"Slowly. Hopefully I'll be able to speed things up a bit when Sara comes in later." Caitlin said and Oliver nodded as he looked over at his suit, preparing to make his approach to Roy.

* * *

Roy was finishing up stacking the empty kegs in the alley behind Verdant when he heard the distinct sound of an arrow being drawn and fired. Roy looked up to see his red arrow embedded in the telephone pole.

"If that was supposed to go through my leg, you missed." Roy said tiredly.

"You seem to be healing pretty well." Green Arrow said, walking down the alley towards the boy.

Enraged, Roy ran at the vigilante. He swung wildly, but Green Arrow expertly dodged out of the way. Roy's third wild punch took out a chunk of bricks on the side of the building, and he staggered back down the alley as the vigilante stood tall. "You're stronger, you heal faster, but you're not in control." He said. "The serum that you were exposed to, it changes your body but it also warps your mind."

"How do you know so much about it?" Roy demanded angrily.

"I've seen it before." Green Arrow admitted. Roy turned to look at the vigilante. "It twists men. Turns them into someone they don't recognize. Someone dangerous." He said.

"Maybe you should put another arrow through me." Roy said. "This time through my heart."

"There's another way, Roy." Green Arrow said. "I can teach you to control your new ability. And to control yourself. Let me help you." He pleaded quietly.

Roy looked the Emerald Archer in the eyes. "When do we start?" he asked.

Green Arrow smiled, or at least Roy thought it was a smile from his hood.

* * *

In an abandoned warehouse in the Glades, where Oliver had begun his training of Roy the best way he knew how. Roy stood sullenly behind a table, slapping water out of a large bowl as Green Arrow paced around the room, lazily swinging a Singapore Cane.

"Again." Green Arrow ordered.

"You know, I slapped water out of a bowl yesterday." Roy said crossly. "And I slapped water out of a bowl the day before."

"You must be getting pretty good at it." The vigilante joked.

"Yeah, well, I can't wait to get attacked by a dog dish." Roy said sarcastically.

"This is how an archer builds arm strength." Oliver told him.

"I'm not sure if you've been paying attention, but strength isn't my problem." Roy replied shortly.

"No, controlling it is." Oliver said archly. "Again."

Roy snarled at the vigilante, and then drove his fist down. He punched through the bowl and the table both with ease, and when he withdrew his hand, there wasn't a scratch on it.

"And that is how you put a guy in the hospital last week." Green Arrow pointed out.

"How'd you know about that?" Roy demanded, looking at his trembling hand. He quickly shoved it into the pocket of his hoodie. "It's none of your business."

"You made it my business when you agreed to let me help you." Oliver replied harshly, and then continued in a quieter voice. "I knew someone like you. Someone injected with the Mirakuru. He was my friend." He said painfully. "But it warped his mind to the point where I didn't even recognize him anymore."

"Who was this guy?" Roy asked. "How come I've never heard of him? Or that Mirakuru?" Silence. "Is there anything you can tell me about him?" Roy asked in frustration.

"Yeah. I had to put an arrow through his eye." Oliver said softly and Roy slightly sympathized.

"You were guys close, if you don't mind my asking?" Roy asked.

"He was like a brother to me. And it was because of the drug that is in your system right now that I had to put him down. I'd really like to avoid history repeating." Green Arrow said.

* * *

Moira was headed towards the door when she saw something she didn't see very often anymore- Thea, lounging on one of the couches in the den.

"Thea? What are you doing home?" she asked, stepping into the den. "I thought you were staying at Roy's."

"Roy's currently training with Oliver, apparently when he went missing over Christmas, he was injected with some dangerous substance that I know nothing about, but Ollie does and he's trying to help Roy control it and since I have no interest in watching what will most likely turn into my brother beating on my boyfriend, I decided to have some me time." Thea said.

"What's with the fancy-fancy?" she then asked, taking note of her mother's outfit.

"Oh, I'm- I'm going out to dinner." Moira said nervously. "With Walter." She added.

Thea perked up. "Like a date?" she asked.

"Like a dinner." Moira clarified. "Truly, I don't know what the evening holds." She looked at Thea in concern. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Thea sighed. "Mostly." she added. "Uh… It's Roy. He had some trouble last week, and I don't know how to help him." She confided.

"Do you want me to stay home?" Moira asked. "I can call Walter and we can reschedule."

"Absolutely not." Thea said sternly. "If you and Walter are going to patch things up," she noted her mother's wary look. "No pressure." Thea said with a smile. "But you're going."

"It may be nothing." Moira hedged.

"Only one way to find out." Thea said with a grin.


	26. Chapter 26

"How's it going with Roy?" Dig asked as Oliver entered Star labs, looking frustrated.

"Not well!" he said.

"I don't know the kid all too well, but he seems to be five kinds of angry." Diggle noted.

"You might be underestimating." Oliver said, rising another rung. "Roy was mad at the world before he was injected with Mirakuru."

"You say you've seen this before?" Dig asked.

"Slade Wilson." Oliver said, lunging up another notch. "He was my friend."

"Troubling use of past tense there." Cisco noted.

"I thought I could help him control it. I was wrong. But I know more now, and I'm not going to make the same mistake with Roy." Oliver said.

A beeping caught their attention. Oliver jumped down as Cisco pulled up the alert program on his computer. "What's that?" he asked.

"Iron Heights." He said absently. "Due to their low security post-Undertaking, I thought it would be a good idea to keep an eye on their internal communication for a while."

"You hacked into a prison system network?" Oliver said in surprise.

"Like you didn't have Laurel do the same thing in your old lair." Cisco countered.

"Never said I had a problem with it." Oliver said.

"Iron Heights just put out a BOLO for Ben Turner, aka Bronze tiger, which, btw, is a terrible nickname, because tigers are not bronze." Cisco said.

"You're just mad because you didn't nickname him." Caitlin said.

"Turner escaped?" Oliver asked.

"Killed ten guards on his way out." Cisco added.

"You think that would have made the news." Diggle noted sourly.

"Iron Heights is better at keeping secrets than they are at keeping prisoners." Cisco quipped.

"Any idea where he's headed?" Oliver asked.

"No." he said.

"Get one." Oliver demanded as he moved towards the showers.

* * *

On the rooftop of the building on Redwood and Larkspur. Milo Armitage checked his watch was his bodyguards moved warily around the roof, semi-automatic weapons drawn and ready. But not ready fast enough as Ben Turner came up behind Armitage and lay his claws over his heart.

Tell your men to take a walk." Turner said.

Armitage glanced over at his men. "Leave us." He told them.

"They can leave their weapons, too." Turner said. The bodyguards put the weapons on the roof and backed off back down the access stairs. "Thank you for the early release." Turner said, releasing Armitage who turned to face him. "Thought about taking off, but I'm… curious. Who would break a stranger out of prison?"

"Someone who wishes to hire you for a job." Armitage replied. "I need you to help my men retrieve a certain item." He pulled a picture out of his jacket pocket and showed it to Turner. "This is the item. You know it, yes?"

Turner stared at the picture for a moment. The guy had balls, he had to give him that. But did he have the money to back it up? "Yes, I do." He said finally. "Do you know what you're messing with here?" he asked. Armitage nodded in affirmation. "Won't be cheap."

"This is not a problem." Armitage assured him.

"You do know that thing could kill hundreds of people?" Turner said, wondering just how cold this cat actually was. He got his answer a moment later.

"No, Mr. Turner. It will kill thousands."

* * *

Back at the warehouse, Green Arrow demonstrated an exercise on a wing chun dummy as Roy watched, unimpressed. Green Arrow finished and backed off. "Now you." He told his protégé. "Go slowly." Roy approached the dummy and started throwing punches at the center column. "Stop!" the vigilante ordered. "This is not about learning to throw a punch. This is about learning to control your strength." He reminded Roy.

"First water slapping, now this." Roy said as he slowly started to mimic Oliver's movements. "When are you going to run out of ways to make me look stupid?!" Aggravated, he launched a devastating single punch at the dummy, knocking the top off clean. "All I'm learning is new ways to get pissed off." He said, glaring at Oliver. "And in case you haven't noticed, I'm already pretty good at that."

"There's nothing wrong with anger, Roy. Anger is energy. But you need to learn to channel it in a positive way." Green Arrow reminded him calmly.

"Like putting the hurt on guys going after the city. Let me try hitting something that'll actually hit back." Roy asked.

"Too soon." Oliver replied warily.

"Get me out there with you. One night." He begged. "All this, it would be a lot easier to take." Green Arrow remained silent, considering.

"Alright, one night, but if you blow it, you'll be lucky to get out in the field again while you still have that stuff in you." Green Arrow said and Roy nodded at him gratefully.

* * *

At a swank Chinese restaurant downtown. Moira was led over to the table where Walter was sitting, and she smiled at her ex-husband.

"Moira." Walter said pleasantly as he rose. Moira walked faster towards him, but stopped when another man rose as well.

"Ah. I didn't realize we'd have company." She said warily.

"This is Mark Frances." Walter introduced. "Mark's CFO at Kardak Holdings. We've been putting in some hours with the party's election steering committee."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Mark said, shaking her hand.

"Those are words I'm not accustomed to hearing these days." Moira said with a wry smile as she took off her coat. Walter hung it on a nearby rack as she took her seat next to him.

"Oh, well." Mark was saying. "You were a lioness doing what she had to do to protect her cubs. You know, I'm not the only person in Starling who sees it that way."

"That's a comfort." Moira said.

"It's the truth. Please." He told her as they all sat down.

"Thank you." Moira said politely, then glanced over at Walter. "Well, it's unlike you to show such an interest in politics, Walter." She noted.

"It's part of my new position at the Starling National Bank." Walter said. "My Board of Directors is very concerned about the trajectory of the city."

"You mean Sebastian Blood." Moira surmised.

"Yeah." Mark agreed. "We believe that his policies will bankrupt Starling within the next eight months. Not that the average voter cares. They're all caught up in his charisma." He groused, causing Moira to think that maybe her son and future daughter-in-law's investigation into Blood wasn't that far off after all.

"And he's not running against a viable opponent." Moira noted, taking a sip of water.

"Blood's trounced every potential candidate we've focus-tested." Walter revealed.

"But we believe that he's vulnerable on regulation." Mark added.

"Even if he is, it hardly matters." Moira stated. "Banking regulations are an SEC issue. Starling City needs to use the means at a city's disposal."

Mark chuckled. "Walter said you were smart."

Moira looked at him, realization dawning over her face. "But you didn't invite me to dinner to hear my opinions. You want to hear my positions." She realized. "You want me to run against Sebastian Blood." She realized.


	27. Chapter 27

Back at the warehouse, where Oliver was still considering Roy's plea for action. The coms buzzed, and he activated it. "Go ahead." He said quietly.

"SCPD's network just lit up with a fresh homicide, multiple stab wounds. Like claw marks." Diggle informed Oliver as Cisco pulled up more information about the victim.

"The victim was an architect." He told him. "Turner ransacked his place; Took blueprints of his designs. One of the aforementioned designs-Malcolm Merlyn's house. I don't know much about architecture, but this can't be good." She stated warily.

"What would Turner want with Merlyn's house?" Oliver wondered.

"Not sure yet." Cisco said. "All of Malcolm's holdings, including the house, were left to Tommy, who, while he took the money and the shares of Merlyn Global, he put the house on the market, since he wanted nothing to do with his dad anymore and something tells me that Malcolm's a bit too busy being on the run right now to visit."

"Who's that you're talking to? Oh, wait, let me guess, you can't tell me that, either." Roy said sarcastically.

"A guy that I put in prison got out, and I have an idea where he's headed." Green Arrow revealed. He paused, thinking hard. Finally he took a big breath and exhaled. "Do you have one of your hoodies?"

"Do you seriously have to ask?" Roy replied sarcastically.

At Merlyn's house. Oliver led Roy through the familiar halls of the Merlyn Manor. "Whatever happens, whoever we run into, do not engage." Green Arrow said. The house was eerily silent; all the furniture was covered with white sheets. Roy idly wondered if the house was haunted by the ghost of all of Merlyn's victims as he stopped by an end table and lifted the white cloth that was draped over it. "And don't touch anything."

"I heard that after Merlyn died, his kid put this place on the market. Can't imagine someone trying to sell this place?" Roy said, since aside from the Queen mansion, he'd never seen a house this big or nice before.

"This house represents something he doesn't want to remember. His father's insanity. I can understand that." Green Arrow said and Roy just shrugged, deciding to go along with it.

"You know your way around this place." Roy noted. "You been here before?"

"You could say that." The vigilante said before going silent. In the silence though, a new sound could be heard. "What was that?" Roy asked.

"It came from underground." Oliver said in realization. "Merlyn has a large garage. Let's go."

* * *

Down in the garage, Armitage's men had already backed a truck into it. The three men climbed out and looked around at all of the cars Merlyn had collected, but it was a small locked door at the far end of the garage that grabbed Turner's attention. Confidently he walked up to the door, and then slashed the keypad with his claws. There was a bright flash of sparks, but the lock was quickly disabled and Turner opened the door to reveal the prize inside.

"What the hell is that?" One of the bodyguards asked.

"Looks like a prototype." Turner replied.

"Of what?"

"A machine that killed 503 people." Turner said, staring at the device. It was clearly an early work, nowhere near as refined as the one Cisco had talked Lance through disabling, of the one that had gone off. "Merlyn's own earthquake device."

"Ok, a simple snatch and grab." The guard said after they loaded the device into the van. "Don't know why Mr. Armitage thought we needed you."

"For that." Turner said, looking across the room at Green Arrow and Roy.

As Oliver stepped around a lift, he caught sight of what was in the back of the van. Instantly his blood froze. "Step away from the device." He ordered sharply. "You don't know what it is you're dealing with."

"Big machine, makes earthquakes?" Turner said mockingly.

"Do you have any idea what happens if the wrong people have it?" Green Arrow demanded.

"Yeah. I get paid." He said. "Close it up."

The guard closed the doors as Oliver fired off an arrow. Turner intercepted it with his claws and moved in to attack. As the two fought, Roy stalked up to the driver's side of the van. He punched the window out and yanked the guard out of the van, tossing him to the ground hard. Roy stalked up to the man and slammed his foot down on the man's gun, destroying it.

"That thing killed eight of my friends." Roy snarled, flipping the man onto his back and laying into him with punches to his face.

Bronze Tiger managed to get a solid hit on Green Arrow, knocking him to the ground. He hurried back to the van and, ignoring Roy and the driver, climbed in and started up the van. Roy was oblivious as Tiger drove off with the Markov Prototype as Oliver fired several ineffectual arrows at the van. He snarled in frustration, and then turned back to Roy.

"Hey!" he yelled, Pulling Roy off the pulverized man. He looked once more out of the garage doors, but the van was pulling off into the night beyond his reach.

* * *

"What's with the angry face?" Thea asked as Oliver entered Star Labs.

"Your boyfriend convinced me to take him out on a mission. A mistake I will not be making again." Oliver said.

"You took Roy into the field? What the hell were you thinking?" Laurel asked.

He wasn't listening to me, Laurel!" Oliver shot back angrily. "I'm trying to reach him, but he lost control. Then he nearly killed somebody, which I obviously couldn't let happen, and in the process—"

"Turner got away." Thea guessed. "What was he there to steal? Merlyn's art collection?" she asked.

"Something much more dangerous." Oliver said wearily. "It's a prototype earthquake machine."

"Wait, there's another earthquake machine?" Laurel asked.

"And thanks to Roy, it's now in the hands of someone who doesn't care how many people die because of it." Oliver said as Cisco joined them.

"Why would Turner want to destroy the city?" Cisco asked.

"He doesn't." Oliver said, reaching into his pocket. "He's a mercenary selling his services to the highest bidder." He pulled out a watch and handed it to Cisco. "This watch belonged to one of the guys Turner was working with."

"Fingerprints." He realized, gingerly taking the watch from him.

"Turner's a loner, which means that guy works for his client." Oliver continued.

Cisco nodded. "Fingerprints equals name, equals known associates." he said shakily. "I'm on it."

"Good." Oliver said as he moved to walk away, but Laurel stopped him, since she knew him well enough to see something no one else did. Fear.

"Ollie, what has you so afraid?" Laurel asked.

"Tonight, Roy nearly killed a guy and when I looked him in the eyes, it was like Slade all over again and we both know how that ended. What we went through could only be defined as hell, but if it helps me teach Roy, it'll have been worth it." Oliver said.

"Maybe next time you should at least take Thea with you, since she can get him under control." Laurel said.

"Thea can, but Roy doesn't know that Thea knows about this world and for right now it needs to stay that way." Oliver said.

"Except that Thea telling Roy the truth may be what not only brings him back to reality but saves their relationship, since I think we both know that relationship built on lies is not a relationship at all." Laurel said.

"I hate it when you're right." Oliver said.

"That's why I love it so much." Laurel said with a smile before kissing him and leaving.


	28. Chapter 28

Roy walked into Verdant, looking around and sighing in relief when Thea walked down the stairs towards him.

"Oh, thank God you're here, I need your help—" she started, but Roy interrupted her.

"I have to talk to you. It's important." He said urgently.

"Ok." She replied slowly. "You look stressed out, is everything ok?" she asked, worried.

"You have to leave town." He told her. "Grab your mother and your brother, if you can, and leave. It's just for a few days."

"A reason would be nice." Thea said, startled by his behavior.

"I need you to trust me, Thea." Roy said in a slightly panicked tone.

"I do." She assured him. "I just- I can't up and leave with my family without a reason." She argued reasonably.

"No, you have to." Roy said urgently.

"Roy, you're not making any sense right now." Thea said worriedly. "Would you just tell me what's going on?"

Roy grasped her by her upper arm. "Why aren't you listening to me?" he asked angrily, squeezing. "I need you to listen to me!"

Thea gasped in pain. "Roy, you're hurting me!" she exclaimed and Roy immediately released his grip on her, horrified.

"Thea, I'm so sorry." Roy said.

"I didn't…I didn't… I didn't mean to." He stuttered as Thea looked at him in concern. "I'm sorry." He said.

"I know!" Thea called out, but Roy had already bolted out of the door.

* * *

At the Queen Manor, where Walter had come to pay Moira a visit.

"Can I fix you a drink?" she asked him.

"Whatever you're having." He replied. Moira fixed him a small tumbler of scotch. "It was good to see you the other night, Moira." He began.

"It was lovely. It's been a while since I've had such a good laugh." Moira replied lightly,

"It was no joke, Moira." Water said. "Mark was telling the truth. A significant number of people in Starling City feel that your actions with Malcolm Merlyn were justified to protect your family. 43.6%, in fact." He revealed.

"You polled people about me?" Moira asked in surprised.

"Prudent course of action when vetting a potential candidate, yes." Walter noted blithely.

"600,000 in Starling City. I'd think you could find someone not responsible for destroying it with an earthquake machine." Moira quipped.

"Not with your name recognition." Walter returned with a grin. "We need a game change candidate, Moira. And there's no one in Starling with a higher profile than you."

"Charles Manson is rather well-known, and no one is going to vote for him." Moira pointed out.

"True." Walter agreed. "Equally true, voters like redemption stories. Bill Clinton, Elliot Spitzer, Martha Stewart."

"Oh, I don't believe she ran for office." Moira said.

"But if she had, she would have won." Walter replied with a smile.

"Would have won what?"

Walter looked behind him and smiled. "Ah, Thea." He said happily, rising from his seat and giving her a hug.

"Mmm, what's going on?" Thea asked, joining them.

"I'm just convincing your mother to run for mayor." Walter told her.

Thea blinked. "Of what?"

"You see?" Moira said with a chuckle. She looked at Thea in concern. "Sweetheart, are you all right?"

Thea rolled her eyes. "You really need to stop asking that." She said, taking a seat on the love seat. "Are you serious?" she asked Walter.

"It's hard to believe, I know." Moira started.

Thea shook her head. "No. No, it's not." She said, surprising both of the adults. "Look, this is actually the first election I can vote in, and…vas a newly minted voter, I don't think it sounds that crazy."

"From out of the mouths of babes." Walter said to Moira, who actually started to consider the idea for the first time.

* * *

At the warehouse in the Glades. Roy walked in as Green Arrow knelt in the middle of the room.

"You're late." He growled.

"I tried to get my girlfriend to leave town." Roy said. Oliver's eyes widened, and he glanced over at the teen. "But she won't."

The vigilante rose. "You cannot bring her into this." He growled harshly.

"But how am I supposed to lie to her and protect her at the same time?" Roy asked. "How do you do it? How do you keep secrets from people in your life?" he demanded.

"By remembering it's the only way to keep them safe." Oliver said.

"No, keeping them safe is what keeps them safe." Roy shot back. "Telling people the truth. But you, you won't tell me anything. Not about the Mirakuru, and this other guy. And you got me slapping water and hitting dummies instead."

"Roy, you're spiraling and you need to calm down." Green Arrow said coldly.

"No." Roy argued. "I need to save Thea." He turned to walk off, but The Arrow grabbed him by the arm.

"That thing is out in the open because of you." Oliver reminded him. "I think you've done enough."

"Let go of me." Roy said tersely.

"Roy…"

"I said let go of me!"

"Get control." Green Arrow ordered. "If not for me or yourself, then do it for Thea."

Roy yanked his arm free. "What the hell do you know about Thea?" he demanded. "Don't you talk about her!" Roy took a wild swing that Oliver easily sidestepped. Roy went staggering away from the vigilante, but quickly came back. Oliver ducked around the wild swings, grabbing the neck of his hoodie and twisting it, then spinning around so that he was behind Roy. He held him still for several moments, cutting off his air, before he relaxed his grip slightly.

"Are you done?" Green Arrow demanded. Roy took a moment, appearing to calm himself down. But then suddenly he spun and lashed out, striking Green Arrow in the chest and sending him flying across the room. The vigilante crashed into a table, breaking it in two and lay there stunned for a moment.

"No. I'm not done." Roy said, stalking over to the vigilante who was pulling himself up. "I'm going to stop this thing. And if you want to stop me, try. Try putting another arrow in me. Go ahead. 'Cause I heal fast now. But get in my way, then I'll give you a good look at that anger you're so worried about me losing control of." He warned before taking off.

* * *

Back at STAR labs, Caitlin was patching Oliver up while he and John talked.

"What do you want to do about Roy?" Diggle asked. Oliver glanced at his body man, but turned to Cisco instead.

"Where are we with the fingerprint?" he asked.

"I struck out on domestic agencies, but I'm checking Interpol, PRC public security and MVD databases now." he said.

"Oliver, I know you've taken Roy on, and why, but Roy, Slade, a lot of guys I've served with," he continued, undeterred. "Some people are just broken, man. And nobody can put them back together."

"I refuse to believe that." Oliver said sharply. "I'm not letting what happened to Slade happen to Roy. I'm not." He said, right as Thea came in.

"Ollie, we need to talk and by that I mean I need to talk and you need to listen." Thea said.

"About?" Oliver asked.

"Roy. I'm sick of lying to him and pretending I have no idea what's going on with him. I need to tell him the truth, it's the only way he'll ever let me help him." Thea said.

"Thea." Oliver began, only to have Thea interrupt him.

"No Ollie, I'm done with the lying to him. Why do you get to share everything with the person you love, but I can't do the same?" Thea said.

"If you would let me finish, I'd say you're right." Oliver said, taking Thea by surprise.

"What?" Thea asked.

"Lying to Roy is what has caused these problems in the first place. Maybe it's time to stop lying to him." Oliver conceded.

"So, I can tell him?" Thea asked hopefully.

"Ask me after we stop this earthquake machine." Oliver said and Thea decided that was probably as good as she was going to get right now.


	29. Chapter 29

"I got a hit." Cisco said.

"Tell me." Oliver said.

"Fingerprint was in Interpol's database." he told him. "The guy worked for Milo Armitage. He's a black market arms merchant."

"He's trying to sell the device." Oliver reasoned. "I need you to search for any indication that Armitage is in Starling."

"I already did." he said. "His ship filed a loadlog manifest at the Starling City docks. I'll get you the slip number." he said

* * *

Back at Verdant later that night. "Mom?" Thea said in surprise when she spotted Moira in the club. "What are you doing here?"

"I came by to get your advice on something." Moira said.

"Step into my office." Thea said, leading Moira over to a standing table. "This is about the campaign, right? It's really awesome you're thinking of doing this." She told her mother.

"You said something that stayed with me." Moira began. "The idea that there could be voters out there that wouldn't dismiss me out of hand."

"Well, you did run a multi-billion dollar company." Thea pointed out.

"Yes, and an undertaking that nearly destroyed the city." Moira said.

"People will get over that." Thea said firmly.

"What makes you so certain?" Moira asked.

"Because I did." Thea replied at once. "Can I make a suggestion? Instead of punishing yourself because you think you nearly destroyed the city, how about you start by saving it?" she suggested. Moira rounded the table and hugged her daughter, grateful for her love, right as Thea's phone rang.

"What's that?" Moira asked.

"Text from Ollie, apparently he needs me to help him with something down at the docks. The less you know the better." Thea said and Moira nodded in agreement as Thea left.

* * *

Down at the docks, Armitage was having the Markov Prototype locked up as he settled his account with Ben Turner. "$10 million, I believe was the negotiated amount." He said. He held up his phone to show the funds being transferred into Turner's account. "Congratulations, you're now in a new tax bracket." He said as the transfer finished.

"Just out of curiosity, you pay me ten million, and you get…" he began leadingly.

"Three times that." Armitage replied.

"You already have a buyer?" Turner asked, surprised.

"I recommend that you stay clear of Markovia for a few months." Armitage suggested. "I believe our business is now concluded."

A sudden noise had them looking up as Green Arrow slid in on a zip line. He dropped to the ground in front of Armitage and Turner.

"Not yet." He growled. He quickly fired two arrows- one took out the guard, the second landed in Armitage's leg, sending the man sprawling to the ground. Green Arrow stalked past the arms dealer, looking for Turner. "Looks like your partner abandoned you." He said, turning back to Armitage.

"He's not my partner. He's someone I hired to do a job." The arms dealer said. Suddenly Turner dropped off the top of the crate, embedding one set of claws into Oliver's shoulder. He gasped in pain as he was forced to one knee. "And it turns out it was money well spent."

"Good thing I didn't come alone." Green Arrow said as Black Canary and Tsunami appeared and the battle began.

Oliver forced himself back to his feet, then lashed out, forcing Turner away. He gasped as the claws ripped free.

Turner staggered back a few steps, and grinned as Green Arrow sank to one knee again. "Just too dumb to stay down."

But then suddenly Roy was there. One punch sent Turner flying a good six feet away. Turner staggered to his feet and took a couple of swipes at Roy, who moved out of the way before sending him back to the ground with one punch.

Armitage scrambled to his feet and pulled out the remote activator for the device.

"Don't do it! You'll kill everyone here." Green Arrow yelled, pulling himself back up as well.

"If I don't deliver this device to my buyer in Markovia, I'm dead anyway." Armitage said, hitting the button. He then threw the remote to the ground and stomped on it, destroying it.

"No!" Oliver screamed, running to the dealer. He belted him hard on the jaw, knocking him out, and then turned and fired a pair of explosive arrows at the doors of the shipping crate. But the low-yield explosives barely dented the door.

"I could try to blast it off." Black Canary said.

"Too risky, the sonic blast could end up setting the device off prematurely." Green Arrow countered.

He looked on in panic, and then turned to see Roy still punching Ben Turner. The assassin was already out cold- all he was doing at this point was adding on brain damage.

Before anyone else could do anything, Tsunami moved over to Roy.

"Roy! I need your help!" Thea called out. Roy, lost in the haze of his anger, was focused only on killing Turner. "Roy, stop! Roy! Roy, I need you to stop!" Suddenly a hand grabbed his arm and yanked him upright. He turned to face the vigilante-

But instead he found himself facing Thea Queen.

"Thea?" Roy asked.

"Long story, but Roy, right now, I need you to focus. Can you do that? Can you focus on my voice?" Thea asked.

"It's the only thing I can focus on." Roy said.

"Good. Then listen to me now. The earthquake device is in there and you're the only one who open that crate without setting the device off. It's built withstand a bomb, but not you. Think about me. Think about how doing this will save me. I need you to do this or I'm dead. Everyone is dead." Thea said.

"I don't know if I can do it Thea." Roy said.

"Maybe this will help." Thea said as she kissed him.

When she pulled away, Roy's eyes were now laser focused as Thea pulled her mask and hood back on and led him over to the container.

Roy stood before the door, trying to focus, trying to concentrate…

Thea

Roy balled up his fist, reached way back, and asserted himself. The punch tore a small hole in the door, just big enough for Oliver to toss in an explosive arrow. The four ran from the crate as, seconds, later, it exploded, taking the last Markov device with it.

The four looked back at the flaming wreckage, but Roy turned back to Thea, along with Oliver and Laurel, who had taken off their masks as well. He stared at them in amazement. "You're…"

"Yeah. Yeah." he said, awkwardly.

"Long story." Laurel said.

"Last year, you saved my life." Roy told him. "And I don't mean from the guy who kidnapped me. I mean, you… you saved me. You gave me purpose." He said, gratefully. He held out his hand.

Oliver took his hand and shook it. "We're just getting started."

* * *

Back at Star labs, Sara was patching Oliver and Laurel up while Dig paced the room and Tommy watched.

"So, the secret society gets a new member?" John asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Laurel said.

"Where's he now?" Tommy asked.

"Home with Thea. She's helping him process it." Oliver said.

"He's taking it better than I did when I found out." Tommy said.

"I'm not trying to stress you out here, but didn't this all start because you were worried that Roy's marble collection was on the short side?" Sara asked.

"She has a point, Oliver." Diggle said. "Roy's a loose cannon. Now he knows all of your secrets."

"You're right, and Thea wasn't thinking about the consequences. But what she knew was that we needed Roy's strength, but Green Arrow, Black Canary and Tsunami couldn't reach him. Thea could. While I'm not sure if trusting Roy is the right move yet, I do trust Thea." Oliver said.

"Besides, I once told Oliver that love is the most powerful emotion in the world and I still believe that. It was Roy's love for Thea that allowed her to get through to him. I think that as long as she can act as the voice of reason to him, we'll be okay. At least until we can get that drug out of his system." Laurel said.

"You guys any closer to figuring out where that drug came from in the first place?" Sara asked.

"None. Whoever is responsible is good, I'll give him that." Oliver said.

* * *

At the Queen Manor, Moira answered the door, welcoming Walter in.

"I was glad to receive your email." He said, stepping back into the house. "Does it portend what I'm hoping?" he asked.

"I'm going to run." She declared.

"What changed your mind?" he asked, then he realized. "Thea." he said simply.

"Hmm. She reminded me that I still owe this city." Moira said. "And I want to be remembered as something more than Malcolm Merlyn's pawn."

"As you should." Walter aid warmly.

"But you know there was another reason for my reticence." She added.

Walter nodded. "You're afraid the people will learn that Robert wasn't her biological father." He surmised.

"I managed to get through a criminal trial without the truth coming out, but political campaigns tend to be a bit more adept at extracting skeletons from closets."

"But no one else knows." Walter said.

"Actually, Oliver and Thea know, I didn't to keep anymore secrets from my children, but someone else does to. My OB, Dr. Gill." She said. "There were complications when Thea was born, and I had to tell him that Robert wasn't her father. If we're going to move forward, we need to make certain that he won't be a problem for us." She said as Walter looked on in agreement.

* * *

The scene changed to Iron Heights as a familiar pair of high heels walked down the darkened corridors of the prison. The woman stopped in front of a cell, and her guard escort walked off.

"Mr. Turner." The woman said.

Ben Turner looked over at the bars and smirked. "Hmm. I didn't know this place allowed conjugal visits." He leered.

"My name is Amanda Waller." She said.

"You say that like it's supposed to mean something." Turner said snidely.

"To the contrary. My identity is highly classified."

"Then why are you introducing yourself to me?" he asked.

"I have an offer for you." Waller said. "A way to work off your sentence. As it turns out, I have need of someone with your singular qualifications."

"For what?" he asked suspiciously.

"For a unit I'm putting together."

"What type of unit?" he asked.

"Actually…it's more of a squad." She smiled coldly.

* * *

Later on at Star Labs, Thea brought Roy into the Cortex to introduce him to everyone.

"So, this is everyone who knows your secrets?" Roy asked Oliver.

"The ones who matter anyways. Welcome aboard." Oliver said as they shook hands.


	30. Chapter 30

A few days later, Oliver was surprised when he entered Star Labs to find that Barry was more riled up then he'd ever seen him before.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked.

"The man in the yellow suit, the one who killed Barry's mother and sent his father to Iron Heights, he made a play at Mercury Labs last night." Joe answered, getting Oliver's full attention.

"Do you have any idea what he was after?" Oliver asked.

"None. All we know is that the floor he hit contained highly secure vaults." Barry said.

"I'll have Laurel work with Cisco, see if we can figure out what exactly was stolen." Oliver said and Barry nodded gratefully.

"Don't worry Barry, we'll catch this guy." Oliver assured him.

"Thanks Oliver, do you know anything about Mercury Labs that might help us out?" Barry asked.

"All I know is that it's one of QC's main competitors." Oliver said as Dr. Wells approached them.

"I think I can help with that. Mercury was one of S.T.A.R. Labs' major competitors until our little setback, and then it catapulted to the forefront led by Dr. Christina McGee, brilliant but egocentric physicist." Wells said as Cisco pulled up McGee's image.

"Says here Dr. McGee has secured half a billion dollars in private funding to develop, and I quote, "prototypes for the technology of the future." Cisco said.

"Well, I'll be. Tina's messing with tachyons, superluminal particles." Wells said.

"Of course. So what could someone do with one of those -?" Joe asked.

"Tachyons." Cisco finished.

"- Thank you." Joe said.

"Well, I don't know. Become invincible? If you could devise a matrix stable enough to harness their power, you could travel faster than light." Wells said.

"He's gonna try to get them again, so we need to get what Mercury has and use it as a lure." Barry said.

"Exactly right. Cisco, Caitlin, let's start engineering a trap." Wells said.

"Laurel's tech expertise is not just limited to hacking, she's pretty good with this stuff to, I'll see if she can give you guys a hand and Thea, Roy, John and I are at your disposal should you need us." Oliver said and Barry nodded at him gratefully.

* * *

"So, the man who killed Barry's mother, who's apparently a speedster like him, is back and is the one responsible for the murder at Mercury labs?" Laurel asked her fiance.

"Yeah pretty much. Wells, Cisco and Caitlin are working on a trap for him, but I was hoping that maybe you'd be willing to lend a hand?" Oliver asked her.

"I'm not that good with engineering Oliver. I can hack easily, but that type of engineering is beyond me. But, just like you, I will be on hand to help with capture." Laurel said.

"In the meantime, there might be something else you could do." Oliver said.

"And that is?" Laurel asked.

"Help secure a warrant for the Police to take Mercury Labs' prototype as bait for the killer, since something tells me Mcgee will not give it up freely." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.

"I'll talk to Judge Hankerson, he owes me a favor, I'll get the warrant." Laurel said and Oliver nodded and kissed her.

"By the way Ollie, we need to start actually planning our wedding soon." Laurel said.

"Maybe we should just consider eloping." Oliver said.

"You know it will break my dad's heart if he doesn't get to walk me down the aisle." Laurel said and Oliver chuckled.

"We'll talk about it later. Right now, let's focus on catching this speed psycho." Oliver said.

"Sounds like Cisco's trying to name him." Laurel said and Oliver rolled his eyes.

"No, not a Cisco name." Oliver said.

* * *

After acquiring the tachyon prototype, plans were made with a forcefield trap being constructed in the bunker of Star labs and the plan was for the team, plus Joe and his partner, Detective Thawne, who'd insisted on being a part of this task, along with a task force assigned to arrest all the vigilantes, which was why they kept out of sight, being ready to snag him, though Barry was forced to sit this one out, due to Joe, Wells and Oliver all believing that he was too close to the investigation.

"Sending out another pulse." Cisco said, looking at his tablet.

"Are you certain this trap will work?" Joe asked.

"I've sent up at least three charges into open satellite. if anyone's looking tachyonic particles, they'll know we got them." Cisco said as the lights fluctuated and the sensors in the trap indicated that they had caught something.

"Let's see what we caught." Wells said as he, Joe, Eddie and the task force headed down to the bunker.

"Cisco? Lights." Wells said.

"Sure thing, Dr. Wells." Cisco said as he turned the lights on to reveal the man in yellow standing in their trap.

"Detective Thawne, would you like to read him his rights?" Wells asked as Joe approached the man in yellow.

"Joe, what are you doing?" Green Arrow asked over the comms, since this was not a part of the plan.

"Getting some answers.14 years ago you killed Nora Allen. I want to know why." Joe asked.

"Dr. Wells, we meet at last." the man in yellow said, ignoring Joe's question.

"What do you want with the tachyonic particles?" Wells asked.

"My goals are beyond your understanding." the man in yellow said.

"Oh, I don't know, I'm a pretty smart guy. I knew you were exceptionally fast, so any trap we manufactured would have to be invisible. I knew your cells could repair themselves at extraordinary speeds, so you could withstand the damage this is doing to your body right now." Wells said.

"The super capacitors the containment field is fluctuating. They need to get out of there now." Cisco said as he ran down to warn them.

"The reason I know all this is because your powers are almost exactly like those of The Flash." Wells said.

"Oh, I'm not like The Flash at all. Some would say I'm the reverse." the man said.

"Dr. Wells, evacuate! Get out of there now! Dr. Wells!" Cisco said as the man in yellow attacked and beat Wells.

"Cisco, turn off the barrier!" Joe shouted.

"If I turn it off, that thing's gonna get out." Cisco protested.

"Cisco, he's gonna kill Wells!" Joe said and then Cisco turned off the force field and the man in zoomed forward, leaving behind red lightning as he began killing cops, except for Eddie, but before he could kill Joe, he slipped on something.

"Hard to run on water if you don't know it's there." Tsunami said as she, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Spartan and Thunderstorm appeared.

"Clever, but none of you are fast enough to stop me." the man in yellow said, regaining his balance, but before he race away, he found the wind fighting him and then was blasted back by Black Canary's sonic cry.

"Clever. But not clever enough." he said before he was hit by the Flash and they moved out.

"Let's move people." Green Arrow shouted as the whole team headed outside to where the Reverse Flash was currently kicking the Flash's ass. But before any of them could react, a blast of fire came out of nowhere and they saw the alluded burning man land in front of them.

"Tsunami, put out his fire." Green Arrow said.

"With pleasure." Tsunami said, but before she could blast him, Caitlin ran out.

"Ronnie?" Caitlin asked.

"Don't look for me again." he said before flying off.

"Our dance is to be continued Flash." Reverse Flash said as he zipped away.

* * *

Oliver was about to console Barry about what had happened when he got a 911 text from his mom.

"What's going on?" Laurel asked.

"I don't know, but my mom needs me at home. I'll be right back." Oliver said as he looked at Barry, who nodded and sped him back to his house.

"Mom." Oliver asked as he entered the manor.

"Oliver, what are you doing here?" Moira asked.

"Didn't you text me and ask me to come home?" Oliver asked.

"No, that wasn't me. But I'm glad you're home." Moira said.

"Mrs. Queen. Is everything ok?" a voice called out and Oliver froze, since while he hadn't heard that voice in nearly 5 years, he'd know it anywhere.

"Yes, thank you." Moira said, adopting a friendly tone. "Uh, my son just got home." She stated, leading Oliver back into the lounge. "Oliver, I'd like you to meet Slade Wilson." She introduced.

Oliver froze when he saw the man that the last time he'd seen him, was dead, standing in front of him now. He was older, he had a little more grey in his hair- and of course, the eye patch he wore courtesy of the arrow Oliver himself had stuck there.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Slade said, grasping Oliver's hand tightly in a seemingly friendly handshake, "Mr. Queen."


	31. Chapter 31

As Slade dropped his hand, a still stunned Oliver asked the first question that came to mind. "What are you doing here?"

Moira, misunderstanding, frowned at her son. "Mr. Wilson just made a sizeable contribution to my campaign." She told him, walking back over to the two men.

"How generous of him." Oliver's voice was raspy, still shocked by the return of his old friend.

"Well, I felt compelled." Slade said with a pleasant smile. "It was the least that I could do for your mother. And what this city needs is a pro-business mayor like Moira to spread growth through urban investment."

"And we were just discussing how to combat the rising wage gap." Moira added.

"And the answer lies in your budget proposal." Slade said. He moved away from Oliver, walking around Moira and putting a 'friendly' hand on her shoulder.

"Get your hands off my mother." Oliver said, trying hard not to snarl.

"Oliver, since when do you care about who touches me?" Moira asked, not sure why her son was acting the way he was now.

"You know, when I look at your mother, I think about everything that you went through after the Undertaking." He started. "All I can say is, you and I have something in common." He told her.

"What's that?" Moira asked.

"I know how difficult it is to pick yourself back up when other people have written you off." He said honestly.

Moira shot a curious look to her son. "Indeed." She agreed.

Slade looked at Oliver with mock concern. "What's wrong, Mr. Queen? You look a little piqued."

"I'm fine, thank you." Oliver lied, desperately trying to compose himself.

Moira smiled as a maid wheeled in the drink cart. "Ah, thank you, dear." Moira said happily. "Oliver, Mr. Wilson was kind enough to bring a bottle of authentic Australian rum." She said. Oliver looked down at the cart- the bottle of Reuther Rum, the glasses, the ice bucket-

The ice pick.

"Will you join us in a drink?" Moira asked, oblivious to the tension.

"Yes, of course." Oliver said.

"Wonderful." Slade said. He prepped three glasses with a finger of rum.

"What shall we drink to?" Moira asked as he handed her a glass.

Slade handed one to Oliver, than raised his own. "To friendship." He declared.

"As if you cared about friendship." Oliver said under his breath.

"I was gonna say the same thing about you kid." Slade said and both were trying very hard not to cause a scene in front of Moira.

He and Moira took a sip; Oliver followed a moment. All three were silent as the rum went down.

"Oh, delicious." Moira complimented.

Slade looked around the room, noting the large model of a sailing ship. "This here is a beautiful piece." He said, moving over to it to examine it closer. "Tell me, does your family spend much time on the water?"

"Uh, no." Moira said hesitantly. "Not since my late husband…"

"I'm sorry, Moira, forgive me." Slade said, looking abashed. "I do remember reading about that accident in the paper." He looked at Oliver . "You were a brave soul."

"I don't like to talk about it." Oliver replied.

"I can understand." Slade said. "All that time on that island… it must have been hell for you."

"You would know." Oliver muttered.

"What was that?" Moira asked.

"Nothing." Oliver said.

* * *

Slade and Moira were laughing genially, sitting next to one another in the lounge. Oliver sat across form them with a stony look on his face. "Are you married, Mr. Wilson? Do you have any children?" Moira asked unaware that both Oliver and Slade knew the answer to that.

"Sadly neither." Slade replied, though Oliver knew that Slade was lying, at least about the children, since Slade had once told him and Laurel about his son, Joe.

"Well, there must be someone special in your life." Moira insisted.

Slade sighed, placing his drink down on the table. "There was." He admitted. "But she passed away a few years ago."

"I'm sorry." Moira said sympathetically.

"My mother and I have had to deal with a lot of loss, unfortunately." Oliver interjected. "And eventually we learned… that you just have to move on."

"Oliver, don't be so insensitive." Moira snapped.

Slade smirked at him. "I don't believe that." He said. Slade stood and moved to the mantel, admiring a painting that hung there. "You know, I heard that your family has an affinity with the fine arts." He said, changing the topic of conversation smoothly.

"Yes, my husband amassed quite the collection of 19th century American landscapes." Moira said.

"Hmm. I'd love to see them." Slade suggested.

"Maybe another day." Oliver said harshly, rising quickly from his seat. "We have some family business that we need to discuss right now." He told Moira urgently.

"I'm sorry." Moira said as she rose, appalled. "My son seems to have forgotten all his manners."

She chuckled. "Let me just get my staff to open up the rest of the house." She offered, moving out of the room.

"Thank you." Slade said. An instant later he spun around, catching Oliver's hand in an iron grip. He squeezed, and Oliver gasped in pain and was forced to drop the ice pick to the floor.

"Nice try kid. But you forget who taught you that move." Slade said with a cruel grin on his face.

"How the hell are you even alive Slade? Last time I saw you, I put in arrow in your eye." Oliver growled.

"Hatred is a strong motivator. And after what you did, can you honestly say you thought you were rid of me. Especially considering how quickly I heal thanks to what you did." Slade said.

"Slade, I saved your life." Oliver said.

"And then you tried to end it. Quite a contradiction if you ask me." Slade said dryly as they heard the door open.

"Mom? Ollie? Is everything okay?" Thea's voice called out and Oliver's blood ran cold. Why did Thea have to come by now.

"Not yet, kid." Slade said with a sinister grin. "I'm still going to meet the rest of your family."

Out in the foyer, Thea looked around. "Hello?" she called out. Out of habit she walked into the lounge. Oliver kicked the ice pick out of sight and Slade let go of his hand. The two moved a more respectable distance from one another, now looking like nothing more than two friendly acquaintances.

"Who's your friend?" Thea asked.

"Slade Wilson." He said with a charming smile. He move forward and took her hand gently, only for Thea to smack it away.

"I take it she knows the truth about our history then?" Slade asked.

"She does and if you even try to touch her, the next time I put you down, you won't get back up." Oliver said.

"Thea, what perfect timing." Moira said happily as she walked back into the room. "This is Slade Wilson, and I—

"They've met." Oliver said angrily.

Moira shot him an annoyed look. "-was just about to show him our collection." She continued, ignoring Oliver. "But you're far better suited." She said. "Come." She said, leading the two out of the room and towards the East Wing. Reluctantly, Thea nodded and Oliver followed.

Thea chuckled as she led the group on the impromptu tour. "Senior year, I was obsessed with art." She revealed. "My teacher made me bring my entire art history class over here to show our pieces. It was exactly as mortifying as it sounds."

"Oh, I'm sure it wasn't." Slade said. "But you're a very lucky girl to have known such privilege. And I am fortunate to have your entire family here." He said with a happy chuckle, once again placing his arm on Moira's shoulder as Oliver followed behind, glaring.

"And here we have a Curtis Swan from 1882." Thea was saying, showing off another of the many works of art in the East Wing. "Fun fact about this one- he actually painted it with his left hand due to severe arthritis."

"It's absolutely exquisite." Slade said, moving closer and running his hand over the frame.

"I know." Moira said. Off to the side, Oliver had slipped his phone out and quickly hit Laurel's speed dial from memory. "I can't tell you how many offers we've had from private collectors for it."

"But it was one of dad's favorites." Thea added, turning to her brother. "Wasn't it, Ollie?" she prodded, trying to act naturally.

"Yes, it was." He said, looking at his mother. "He loved that one."

"Then you must never sell it." Slade advised. "I believe that when we lose someone we love, we have the obligation to honor their memory."

Funny considering how just being right now does nothing to honor Shado's memory. Oliver thought as he followed the tour.

* * *

Back at Star Labs, Laurel's phone started ringing on the edge of her desk, but it was ignored as Laurel tried to lead Roy in a little archery practice. Another arrow, another hit way off the target.

"Oof. I think eventually I'd hit something." Roy groused.

"Be patient." Laurel advised. "Ollie makes it look easy."

Sara and John entered the room with Big Belly Burger as Laurel noticed her phone was ringing and just nodded to Sara to answer it, since she could see it was Oliver.

"Oliver?" She smirked as she set the phone down on the table, and then hit a key to tie it in to the computer's speakers. "Well, I do think we have been butt dialed." She noted wryly.

** And here is a Joseph Cooper from 1890.** Thea was saying over the line, oblivious.

Roy perked up at once. "Hey, that's Thea."

**That's gorgeous.**

Laurel froze. "Wait, hold on. I know that voice." She said, a feeling of ice in the pit of her stomach forming.

**I actually have a painting from his first solo exhibition in Boston.** Slade continued.

Laurel paled. "Oh, God, no." she whispered.

"Who is that?" Diggle demanded, on guard at once.

"His name is Slade Wilson. And unless we stop him, he's going to kill Oliver and his entire family." Laurel said urgently. "We have to move. Now." Laurel walked over to the equipment rack and pulled out a knife. She tested the edge with her thumb.

"Are you sure it was Slade Wilson? I thought he was dead." Diggle said, remembering what Oliver had told him.

"I'm sure. That's not a voice I'd ever forget." She slid the knife into a holster attached to the back of her belt. "What's the biggest gun you got down here?"

Diggle pulled out a hard case that contained a Robar RC-50 .50 sniper rifle. "That might work." Laurel noted grimly.

"Might?" Roy asked, dumbfounded.

"He has the Mirakuru in him." Laurel told him.

"So do I." Roy said, pulling up his hood. She noted his shaking hands.

"Can I trust you?" she asked.

"I'll be fine." Roy assured her.

"Not to mention you and Thea both have superpowers, plus Barry and Iris." John said and Laurel nodded.


	32. Chapter 32

"Slade Wilson is dangerous." Laurel reminded her team over their comms. "No chances, no mistakes."

"I'm in position." Dig said from his impromptu sniper's perch in the bushes. "When Slade comes out, I'll have the shot."

"Cisco?" Laurel asked,

From the lair, Cisco pulled up a map of the Manor. "Thermal imaging coming up now. They're in the northwest hall."

Laurel jumped up, catching a bar and pulling herself up to the second floor. "Roy, remember, just get Thea and Moira away from Slade. Don't start a fight, you'll lose." She told Roy as he walked up to the front door. "Ok?"

"Ok." Roy said, pushing his hood back.

Let's go." Laurel said as Roy walked in the front door. On the second floor, she used her knife to slip the latch on Oliver's window, and silently made her way into the house.

She paused upstairs as she heard Slade laugh.

"Thank you again for such a wonderful and insightful tour." Slade said jovially as Moira led him back out into the foyer. Thea turned and gave him a fake smile as Oliver slipped into the archway of the lounge. "You were a remarkable guide." He complimented.

"Did you have a favorite?" Thea asked.

"I found 'The Promise' to be particularly compelling." Slade said, glancing over at Oliver.

"Thea, you home?" the small group turned to see Roy walk in.

"Roy! I thought I was meeting you at Verdant." Thea said in surprise.

"Oh, yeah." Roy replied, glancing over at Oliver and giving him a subtle nod.

"Uh, this is, uh—" Moira began awkwardly.

"I'm Roy Harper." Roy said, extending his hand.

"Slade Wilson." Slade replied amicably. He moved close and shook his hand. They were still as each took the measure of the other's strength. "That's a particularly firm handshake you have there, son." Slade said with a grin.

"Yeah, you too." Roy replied.

At the top of the stairs, Laurel appeared. She looked at Oliver, who subtly shook his head, then slipped the knife back into the holster and covered it with her jacket.

"Ollie." She said, drawing Slade's attention. He looked up in surprise, shock, and then delight as Laurel came down the stairs. "There you are."

"Laurel, we didn't hear you come in." Moira said warmly.

"I didn't want to interrupt the tour." She lied.

"Mr. Wilson, this is my son's fiance Laurel Lance." Moira introduced as Laurel moved to stand next to Oliver.

"Of course, you're the girl who was stranded with Oliver for 5 years on that island." Slade said, not offering to shake Laurel's hand, as they both knew she wouldn't take it.

"It was hell and I wouldn't have survived it without him." Laurel said as Oliver wrapped his arm around her, almost protectively.

"Well, I can see." Slade replied. "I mean, it's hard to find that special someone who means everything to you. You were very lucky."

"So…" Oliver looked around at his team, then back to Slade. "What would you like to do now? Mr. Wilson." Oliver asked.

Slade smirked at the pair, and then looked back at Roy. "Well, I'd hate to break up the party," Slade told Oliver. "But I think I should be going." He chuckled as he allowed Moira to show him to the door. "I look forward to seeing more of you, Moira."

"Oh." Moira said, blushing as he kissed her cheek.

"And your lovely family." Slade said, smiling pleasantly at Thea.

"Dig's got a shot lined up outside." Laurel whispered to Oliver.

"Mr. Wilson." Oliver said suddenly. "May I walk you to your car?"

The two men walked out. As Oliver escorted Slade to his Lamborghini, Dig lined up his shot. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, though- a figure came up behind him and smashed him across the back of the head, knocking him out.

Oliver looked at Slade and both of them dropped their charades.

"Cyrus Gold, the men in the skull mask, all this was you." Oliver said, feeling foolish for not piecing together sooner, while also waiting for the shot. "They worked for you."

"Well, I have my allies, just as you have yours." Slade remarked casually. "John Diggle, for example. I suppose you're wondering why he hasn't taken his head shot." Oliver looked startled. "Don't worry. He's still alive-for now."

"Slade." Oliver hissed as the businessman opened the car door. "What do you want?"

Slade scoffed and climbed in. He closed the door, and then rolled down the window. "Five years ago, I made you a promise. Do you remember?" he asked. Oliver nodded. "Well, I'm here to fulfill it. I'll see you around, kid." He said cockily as he drove off, leaving Oliver standing alone in the dark.

* * *

"What was that about? Why were you so rude to a man that you've never even met before?" Moira asked Oliver.

"Except for he's just as good an actor as I am." Oliver said, taking Moira aback.

"You know him?" Moira asked.

"We both do. We were not alone on Lian Yu." Laurel said.

"Ok." Moira said, waiting for them to elaborate.

"Slade's former australian intelligence. About a year or so before the Gambit went down, his plane was shot down on Lian Yu. He helped us learn to survive on the island, he was my best friend." Oliver said.

"That still doesn't explain your behavior or why Slade pretended not to know you." Moira said.

"He said was. Slade Wilson is insane. To save his life, we had to inject Slade with a steroid called Mirakuru and while it did save him, it made him crazy. The man we knew died and all that's left is a monster that looks like him. Minus an eye of course." Laurel said.

"I take it you know how he got that eyepatch?" Moira asked.

"Yeah, I put an arrow through his eye when he tried to kill us. I thought he was dead until tonight." Oliver said.

"The question is, what was he doing here?" Laurel asked.

"I don't know, but mom, I think it would be best if until this situation with Slade is over, if you dropped out of the race and left town." Oliver said.

"Oliver, what sort of message does that send?" Moira asked.

"Mom, Slade is up to something and Thea and I have already had to go through losing Dad. Do you really want us to have to risk losing you to?" Oliver asked and Moira looked at him considering.

"I'll think about it." Moira said and Oliver nodded, thinking that was as good as it was going to get for right now.

"In the meantime, I'm going to go talk to an old friend about this." Oliver said as he walked out.

* * *

At A.R.G.U.S. headquarters was dark, with only minimal personnel this time at night. Waller, burning the midnight oil, walked cautiously through the hall with her gun drawn, noting that most of those agents were on the ground, unconscious. She lowered the gun when she saw the tranq darts. Entering her office, she smirked at the green hooded figure. "Hello, Oliver." She said, holstering her gun.

Oliver turned and lowered his hood. He wasn't wearing his mask; he didn't need to here. "Hello, Amanda."

"Still mad at me?" she asked, almost in a teasing voice.

"Lucky for you, you've been pushed down that list." Oliver noted darkly.

"Really? Who do you want to kill more than me?" she asked, curious.

"Slade Wilson is alive."

Waller actually looked shaken. "You killed him. It's not possible." She said, her voice quivering slightly.

"Everything is possible where Slade is concerned." Oliver replied. "And I need your help to find him and his base of operations."

Waller thought for a moment, trying to think of anything… "I might have something." She said finally.

"What?"

"There's a new player we've been tracking- mercenary." Waller said, moving to her computer and pulling up the file. "He's left a trail of bodies from Macau to Istanbul to Lisbon. A trail that leads right here to Starling." She pulled up the only known picture they had- a man in head to toe body armor, topped by an armored helmet with an eerily familiar blue and gold design. "We've been calling him Deathstroke."

* * *

Later that night, as Slade sat in his office with his eye patch off, he looked at his three screen setup as all of the micro cameras he had planted transmitted their feeds. He sat back, watching, plotting his next moves to destroy them utterly when he heard someone speed in from behind him and he turned to see his partner, the Reverse-Flash, standing there.

"Did you get what you were looking for?" Reverse Flash asked.

"Yes and I wanted to thank you for giving me access to your security cams, makes this much easier." Slade said.

"Just remember Mr. Wilson, we have a deal." Reverse Flash said as he pulled of his mask to reveal the face of Harrison Wells.

"Don't worry Mr. Thawne. So long as you hold up your end of the bargain, I'll uphold my end of it. After all, I always keep my promises." Slade said.


	33. Chapter 33

Cisco was doing a basic scan on a 3D model he'd constructed of Star Labs, trying to see if he could pinpoint what had gone wrong with the both the accelerator, though he'd run those tests before, but also with the trap in the bunker, since every test he'd run showed that there was no reason it should've failed when he noticed something that definitely should not be there.

* * *

"Cisco, what was so important that we had to rush over here?" Oliver asked as he and Barry followed Cisco through STAR labs.

"I was trying to figure out what went wrong with the trap for the Reverse Flash when I found something else. A section of this building that shouldn't be there." Cisco said as he showed them the data on his tablet.

"What do you think that is?" Barry asked.

"I don't know, but I wanted to make sure I had some backup before I went to check it out." Cisco said as they arrived at the wall.

"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Oliver asked.

"Not sure exactly. All I know is that there is definitely something hidden behind this wall, I just don't know what." Cisco said as Barry slid his hand down the wall and hit some sort of trigger and caused the wall panel to retract, revealing a secret room within the wall, it's lights off.

When they came on however, Barry was horrified when he saw the Reverse-Flash suit on a mannequin there.

"What the hell is that thing doing here?" Barry asked.

"Good question. Another one is what the hell is this place?" Oliver asked as he noticed a console with some type of hologram being projected over it.

"Barry." Cisco said, getting his attention.

"What the frack?" Cisco asked as they read the news article.

"Flash missing. Vanishes in crisis." Oliver read the headline.

"After an epic street battle with the Reverse-Flash, "our city's very own Scarlet Speedster disappeared in an explosion of light." Barry read.

"Barry, look at the date." Cisco pointed out.

"April 25th, 2024. Guys, when I fought the Reverse-Flash at Christmas, he said that we'd be fighting for centuries." Barry said.

"Wait, you can't really think that this is from the future." Cisco asked.

"I've seen a lot of crazy things over the past 7 years, but time travel, that's a new one." Oliver said.

"If it is from the future, then that means that whoever is the Reverse Flash is also from the future." Barry said.

"I have to say, I'm really digging the brighter red suit. And the white on the symbol? That's dope. Wait a second. Suppose we now change the color on your suit. Will it be because we got the idea from this picture? That would mean we're living in a causal nexus. This wow. This is so trippy. Like, Marty and the Polaroid trippy." Cisco said.

"Not as trippy as the name on the byline." Oliver said.

"Iris West-Allen?" Barry read, surprised that he and Iris apparently get married in the future.

"Mazel tov?" Cisco said.

"Hebrew. Ancient language of the Jewish people." a female voice said out of nowhere.

"Uh-uh." Cisco said.

"What the hell was that?" Oliver asked.

"Is someone here? Hello?" Barry asked as suddenly a holographic head appeared in front of them.

"Good evening, Barry Allen. Good evening Oliver Queen." the woman said.

"Uh H-hi." Barry said.

"- You know who we are?" Oliver asked.

"- Of course. Barry Allen, director of Central City Police, CSI Division." the woman said.

"Director?" Barry asked.

"I guess you get a promotion." Cisco said.

"Also known as The Flash. And Oliver Queen, former mayor of Star City and CEO of Queen Incorporated." the hologram said.

"Mayor. Huh, never thought I'd be that type of criminal." Oliver said dryly.

"Also known as the Green Arrow. Leader and founding member, alongside the Flash of." the hologram said before Oliver interrupted her.

"What are you?" Oliver asked.

"I am Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness." Gideon said.

"AI. Sick." Cisco translated.

"You know the Reverse Flash?" Barry asked.

"I do." Gideon confirmed.

"Can you tell us who he really is?" Oliver asked.

"I believe he is going by the name Harrison Wells at this point." Gideon said, causing all 3 of them stop short.

"What do you mean going by. Is he not Harrison Wells?" Barry asked.

"I don't understand the question." Gideon said.

"We can get answers about that later Barry, right now, maybe you should try to get some different answers instead." Oliver said.

"I mean, what is he doing here? W-why did he come here?" Barry asked.

"To kill you." Gideon said bluntly.

"Why did he kill Nora Allen?" Barry asked.

"Because he was angry." Gideon said.

"About what?" Barry asked.

"That you escaped." Gideon said.

"What does he want from me?" Barry asked.

"For you to be The Flash." Gideon said.

"You don't think that Wells let the particle accelerator explode, so that you could become The Flash." Oliver asked.

"Why? I mean, for what reason?" Barry asked as Oliver heard wheels approaching from outside.

" Guys, we got to go. Wells is in the building, I can hear his wheelchair, Barry, we've got to move now." Oliver said regretfully.

"Wait, can you tell us his plans?" Barry asked.

"Barry we don't have time." Oliver snapped.

"Wait a second. Wait. What if HAL over there tells Wells that we were in here?" Cisco pointed out.

"That would be bad." Oliver agreed.

"If I can get into its operating system, maybe I can disable its memory core." Cisco said.

"Gideon, can you show us where your operating system is?" Barry asked.

"Certainly." Gideon said as she revealed some sort of futuristic panel.

"Yeah. Nope. That's not gonna happen." Cisco said.

"Hey, Gideon!" Barry tried. "Could you, uh, not Wells that we were here?"

The AI nodded. "Of course. I will except any command given to me by you."

"- Barry. - Come on." Oliver said.

"- We gotta get out of here." Cisco agreed.

"- Wait, wait, wait. Why would you accept my commands?" Barry asked.

"Because you created me." Gideon said as Barry sped the 3 of them out as Wells entered.

"Good evening, Gideon." Wells said, standing up.

"Good evening, Dr. Wells." Gideon said.

"Is everything alright?" Wells asked.

"Everything is fine." Gideon said.


	34. Chapter 34

"So, let me get this straight. Not only is Doctor Wells the man in yellow, but apparently he's also from the future?" Laurel asked after Barry, Oliver and Cisco had brought everyone else up to speed on what had happened in the Time Vault.

"Yeah, though I'm honestly not sure if that man is even the real Harrison Wells." Barry said.

"So how do we find that out?" Iris asked..

"We go back to the beginning, in this case, the car accident that Wells was in with Tess Morgan 13 years ago." Oliver said.

"Why?" Caitlin asked.

"I spoke with Dr. McGee, since she and Wells used to be friends and she said that after the accident, Wells become a completely different person. Hopefully investigating the accident site will help shed some light on why." Barry explained.

"Cisco, you're with me on that." Joe said.

"Copy that." Cisco said.

"What are the rest of us supposed to do?" Iris asked.

"Business as usual, which for me, includes trying to figure out what Slade Wilson's endgame is." Oliver said as Roy joined them.

"I think I might be able to help with that." Roy said.

"How?" Oliver asked.

"Last night, I had a dream, but it felt more like a memory of what happened over Christmas." Roy said.

"Sounds like one of your repressed memories decided to come back, go on." Caitlin said.

"Even though I was barely conscious before I was injected with the serum, remember Gold calling the man in the skull mask by a name." Roy said.

"What was the name?" Oliver asked.

"Brother Blood." Roy said.

"You don't think that?" Laurel asked, looking at Oliver, who shrugged.

"Sounds like Sebastian's got more going on then one might think." Oliver said.

"Wait, are you saying that you think that Sebastian Blood is the man in the skull mask?" Joe asked.

"It can't be a coincidence and we know that he killed his father, pegged it on his mother and then after you spoke with her, he killed his mother to." Oliver said.

"So, what do we do now?" Laurel asked.

"We get some answers." Oliver said, right as Tommy and Sara entered the room and they both looked dejected.

"What happened to you guys?" Oliver asked.

"Isabel Rochev happened." Sara growled.

"What did she do?" Laurel asked.

"I decided to take a brief sabbatical from the company to help me focus on everything else going on, naming Isabel the temporary CEO of Merlyn Global, but she got the board to vote to out me and make herself permanent CEO. I talked to Walter and he said that there was nothing he could do, as he was outvoted and he was actually forced to sell his stocks in Merlyn Global to keep Isabel from trying to takeover Queen Consolidated to. I understood, but it doesn't make me happy, since Isabel literally just stole my company." Tommy said.

"And she also closed down the clinic, leaving hundreds of people in the glades without access to necessary medical care." Sara said.

"Seems a little coincidental to me?" Laurel and Oliver nodded.

"I'm gonna go talk to her and confirm it." Oliver said as he walked out.

* * *

"Mr Queen, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Isabel asked as Oliver entered her office.

"Well, when I heard about Merlyn Global change in leadership, I had to come and see the competition myself. Have to say, you don't look so impressive when there's no man for you to stand behind." Oliver said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Isabel asked.

Oliver waited until they had left before he started speaking. "Isabel, what have you done?" he demanded.

"Me? Very little." She said as he started moving around the table towards her. "Tommy is the one who made this possible when he made me CEO. I know it was only temporary, but it gave me the authority I needed to call an emergency board meeting. As of 30 minutes ago, his company belongs to me." She informed him happily. "The directors unanimously made my appointment permanent. I'd say they lost faith in his leadership, but that would imply there was any." She smirked. "Maybe you should have had him focused a little less on your…evening activities." She added significantly and Oliver put the pieces together, confirming his suspicions.

Oliver stepped back slightly, rocked by the realization. "Slade… you're working for him." He said, stalking closer to her.

"With." She clarified as she was moved back towards the wall. "He wanted to plant me in your family's business, and I tried so hard to do so, but you got enough good press to save the company, so your best friend's company was the next best thing. Truth be told, I was skeptical, but—" She as cut off when his hand shot around her throat and forced her back to the wall hard.

"Why are you doing this?!" Oliver demanded.

"I have my reasons." Isabel choked.

"Where is he?" Oliver growled.

"It's funny that you think you scare more than he does." Isabel said.

"You don't seem to realize that you're just his pawn. Once he's through using you, he'll turn on you. I speak from personal experience." Oliver said.

"We'll see Mr. Queen. Now, please get out of my office." Isabel said.

"This is not over Rochev." Oliver said as he did that.

"Please, call me Ravager." Isabel said.

* * *

"She all but admitted that she's working for Slade. She actually thinks she can trust him." Oliver said.

"Yeah, we learned the hard way not to do that. As long as he has the Mirakuru in him, Slade will always turn on his partners." Laurel said as Joe and Cisco came in, wheeling something behind him.

"What's that?" Oliver asked.

"Proof that Dr. Wells is not who he appears to be." Cisco said as they all gathered around the slab to reveal human remains in it.

"I ran the DNA tests twice, it's a perfect match." Cisco said.

"This body is the real Harrison Wells." Joe sighed, moving toward the table.

The rest of them followed. "If this is Dr. Wells, who have we been working with this whole time?" Caitlin asked

"Dr. McGee said that after the accident, Wells became a completely different person." Barry murmured. "It's because he is a different person."

"And now the real fight begins." Oliver said.


	35. Chapter 35

Moira had reluctantly dropped out of the race for unknown reasons and had left Starling City at Oliver's insistence, making it easier for him to focus on Slade.

However, this also meant that Sebastian Blood was elected into office by default.

Anyways, Sebastian Blood walked into Mai Lee, a trendy new Asian restaurant for dinner, and greeted several of his constituents as they left for the evening "Hello. Good to see you." He told them. He looked back at his body man. "Clinton. You can wait in the car." He told him.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Clinton asked.

Blood smiled. "Nothing's going to happen to me here." He assured the man. Clinton turned and headed back to the elevator as Blood made his way through the dining room, greeting the diners and shaking their hands warmly. He stopped in surprise as he reached his table, and found Oliver Queen sitting there.

"Sebastian, may I join you for dinner?" he asked evenly.

At the elevator, the door opened and Clinton got in. Just as the door started to close, he heard someone call out.

"Hey, can you hold that?"

Annoyed, Clinton stopped the door for closing, just in time for Diggle to jump in. "Oh, thanks a lot, man, appreciate it." He said. He pressed a button, then looked at Clinton and smiled. Just as the doors closed, a thud could be heard.

* * *

When Clinton awoke, he was in the boiler room of the restaurant, tied to a chair with a bag over his head.

"Clinton Hogue. I have some questions for you." Diggle said, ripping the black bag off of his head. Clinton saw who it was and rolled his eyes.

"Go to hell." He spat.

"You sure that's how you want to play it?" Dig asked.

"You think I've never took a beating before?" he shot back.

Dig smirked and leaned in close. "Pal, you're going to wish I beat you." He whispered.

"Hi." Clinton looked to his right as a smiling Laurel came into view, a tablet in her hand. "I'll be your interrogator." She said.

Clinton scoffed. "Is this a joke?"

"Clinton Hogue." She began, reading off his personal information. "Social Security number 306003894."

"What the hell's this supposed to be?" he demanded.

"Oh, look at this." Laurel said, walking around the bound man. "You have a bank account in the Cayman Islands. Wow." She exclaimed, pulling up more info on her tablet. "$2 million, quite the little nest egg. But," she taped a button on the screen, and money was siphoned off. "Looks like you just approved a wire transfer of $1 million to a charity here in Starling City." She said as Clinton moaned. "Very generous. What should I do with the rest?" she asked.

"Greenpeace." Diggle suggested.

"Great cause!" Laurel said, transferring the money. "And they really appreciate the support."

"You bitch!" he spat, only to have Laurel slug him.

"I really that word. But to be more specific, bitch with WiFi." She corrected with a smile.

She tapped some more. "Hey, Clinton, looks like your mom and dad have a really nice retirement portfolio, too, but they, oh, no, are just about to make some really bad investments." She warned.

"Ok, wait, just wait-just-stop!" he demanded. He sighed in defeat. "What do you want to know?"

* * *

Back in the dining room, Sebastian sat down across from Oliver.

"You're the mayor." Oliver stated. "Congratulations. You've always wanted that."

"Believe me, Oliver, I wish it had happened a different way." Blood offered. "Your mother and I, we-we didn't agree on much. But we both wanted what was best for Starling City. I will help this city find its heart again, I promise you that." He said.

Oliver leaned in. "Do you really think that he will let that happen?" he asked. At Blood's confused look, he clarified. "Slade Wilson."

Blood looked at him in shock. "How do you know I've been working with Slade Wilson?" he asked.

"Because I'm the Green Arrow." Oliver revealed.

Blood scoffed. "Of course." He said, chuckling. "It all makes sense now. It was right in front of me. You came to my office and you shook my hand. You said that together, we can save this city."

"You think that there will be a city to be saved after you unleash Slade's Mirakuru army?" Oliver asked.

"They'll only cause enough damage to make the city ready." Blood replied.

"Ready for your leadership?' Oliver asked incredulously.

"For my vision of what this city could be." Blood said passionately. "A better city. And after the storm they're about to suffer, the people of Starling will support and follow me to that city."

"You're sick. Not to mention deluded." Oliver said.

"Excuse me?" Blood asked.

"Whatever Slade promised you, he will not deliver." Oliver warned. "He wants to hurt me. You are a pawn in a much larger game."

Blood sat back, unbelieving. "Slade promised me city hall. And he delivered. He makes good on his promises. I understand he made you a promise, too." Blood added. Oliver grasped the dinner knife hard in his hand. Blood noticed and smirked. "What are you going to do?" he asked. "You going to stab the mayor in a restaurant full of people?" he shook his head and rose. "It's a new day in Starling City, Oliver. And there's nothing you can do to stop it." He told him, pushing in his chair and walking out.

* * *

After the interrogation got them what they needed, Laurel hit Blood's man with some sort of amnesia drug that Sara and Caitlin had whipped up to wipe his short term memory and now they were all gathering back at Star labs, since Wells seemed to have gone missing and his suit was gone from the time vault, which most likely meant he was onto them, but anyways, Laurel decided that before they went charing into the lion's den, she and Oliver needed to have a talk.

"Ollie." Laurel said.

"Yeah?" Oliver asked.

"I think we both know that whatever Slade's endgame is, it's almost here." Laurel said.

"I know." Oliver agreed.

"Then maybe we shouldn't wait to get married. Maybe we should just elope now and then have the big ceremony after we stop Slade?" Laurel asked and Oliver smiled.

"My mom would kill us if we eloped while she wasn't even in the city. Besides, we've nearly finished planning the wedding, all we need now is a venue." Oliver said and Laurel smiled.

"I know, but Oliver, since we're about to literally dive into the Lion's den here, I want to do it as your wife." Laurel said.

"I want nothing more than to marry you, I just want to do it like normal people, since honestly, I think that after everything we've been through the past 7 years, we could both use a little normal in our lives." Oliver said.

"I guess I understand that. And since I've waited 7 years for us to get married, I guess I can wait a little longer." Laurel agreed.


	36. Chapter 36

"So, did you guys get it?" Oliver asked.

"Yep, Clinton told us everything we need to know." John confirmed.

"Good. Caitlin, Sara, please tell me you guys have finished a cure for the Mirakuru?" Oliver asked.

"We might." Caitlin said as she and Sara produced a blue vial.

"This looks familiar." Oliver said as he took the vial.

"We have the compound on file, we're just not sure if it works yet? We haven't tested it yet." Sara said.

"So test it now." Roy said as he stepped forward.

"Roy." Thea said.

"Thea, I'm the only person here that can be a viable test subject for the Mirakuru cure. Please, let me do this." Roy said and Thea nodded reluctantly.

"You sure you want to do this?" Oliver asked as he loaded the cure into a syringe.

"Never been more. I want this stuff out of me while I can still keep it under control. I feel myself losing more and more of it everyday." Roy said and Oliver nodded as he injected the cure into Roy.

"How do you feel?" Oliver asked Roy after a few moments.

"Not quite sure yet." Roy said.

"If you let us take a blood sample from you now, we can compare it to one we took while you had the Mirakuru in you so we compare can compare them." Sara said and Roy nodded as he let them take a sample of his blood.

"What about Firestorm? Considering what it sounds like Slade's up to, we could use all the help we can get." Oliver asked.

"We're working on something for that, but we need more time." Cisco said.

"Time is probably the one thing we do not have right now." Oliver said.

* * *

Joe was back at SCPD, looking further into the Blood investigation when Lance and another officer entered the room with a criminal.

"Isn't that one of the Iron Heights escapees?" Joe asked and Lance nodded.

"Dumbass here tried to rob a convenience store but gave up as soon as I pulled in." Lance said happily. "Mind if I just stick him here for a minute?" he asked.

Joe shook his head. "No, go ahead." He said. The man was pushed into a seat, and he looked around the squad room surreptitiously.

* * *

"Well?" Oliver asked Caitlin and Sara.

Sara looked at him with a grin and said "The tests we ran for mirakuru came back negative, there isn't a drop of that stuff in Roy's system. The cure worked. We're working on mass producing it now."

"That is some much needed good news. In the meantime, we'll see if we can buy you some time." Oliver said.

"How?" Roy asked, relieved that he no longer had an unstable drug in his system.

"We know where the army Blood's amassed is gathering right. Well, let's go put an end to this once and for all." Oliver said.

"We can't take out that army, even with our powers." Barry said.

"I know, but we can slow them down. Now, let's suit up" Oliver said as they all turned to look at the mannequins Cisco had setup, each one displaying a different suit. Thunderstorm, Spartan, Flash, Green Arrow, Tsunami and Black Canary.

"Let's end this." Green Arrow said after they were all suited up, but before they could move to leave, there was a flash of red lightning that knocked them all to the ground.

"Wells." Flash growled.

"Seems my games are over." Reverse Flash said.

"Why don't you at least have the guts to show us who you really are under that mask and that face." Green Arrow said as he quickly got up.

"Why not? I know your names, only fair you know mine." Reverse Flash said as he pulled of his mask to reveal, not the face of Harrison Wells, but a different face of man with blonde-brown hair.

"My name is Eobard Thawne. I believe you know my ancestor Eddie Thawne." Eobard said.

"You've been keeping surveillance on us, haven't you. That's how you knew to show up here tonight." Green Arrow growled.

"Very clever Mr. Queen. Nice to see you live up to your reputation." Thawne said.

"Enough. You can't stop all 6 of us at once alone Eobard." Flash said.

"Who says I'm alone?" Thawne said as the door was pushed down and Green Arrow saw Deathstroke enter the Cortex.

"Hey kid. At least this time when we meet, we meet as our true selves." Deathstroke said as Green Arrow turned to face him.

"This is between you and me. No one else." Green Arrow said.

"No one else. You brought everyone in here into this when you brought them into your crusade. And yes you may have spared your mother from my wrath, but don't worry, once I'm done here, I will hunt her down and I will bring her back here, just so that I can kill her in front of you." Deathstroke said.

"Like hell you will." Green Arrow snarled as he fired at Deathstroke before engaging him as Flash moved to attack Reverse Flash.

"Not fast enough Barry." Thawne said as he pulled down his mask and sped away, with Flash following them.

"They're in the Pipeline." Cisco said.

"Lock it down and then get the hell out of here." Black Canary said as more goons wearing masks similar to Slade's arrived and she and the others began to engage them.

"What about the cure?" Caitlin asked.

"Barry can get it out of here, but we cannot lose you guys. Leave this to the people with training and powers." Thunderstorm said as she fired lightning out of her fist.

* * *

Back at the SCPD. "Hey." The escapee said, getting Lance's and Joe's attention. "You got the time?" he asked.

Automatically Lance glanced at his watch. "It's, uh, 9:00." He said.

"Thanks." The man said with a grin, then easily broke his handcuffs and jumped up, grabbing Kelton by the throat with one hand and snapping his neck.

Lance drew his gun, but the man quickly knocked it away. Lance punched the man, but all that did was seemingly piss him off. He advanced on the cop, grabbing him by the throat and pushing him back against the wall. Another cop grabbed him, but an elbow sent him flying, and the man grabbed a mask from under his coat and put it on. He threw Quentin across the room and then advance don the other cops who were beginning to respond.


	37. Chapter 37

"Where the hell are we?" Caitlin asked as she, Sara, Roy, Cisco and Tommy entered an old clocktower.

"Oliver and Laurel's backup base. They originally set it up to serve as a secondary facility in case the foundry was compromised, but they sort of forgot about it after you guys moved to Star Labs." Cisco explained.

"Speaking of which, why did we just leave them Oliver, Laurel, John, Thea, Barry and Iris alone in Star Labs with the Reverse Flash, Slade Wilson and a dozen mirakuru soldiers?" Tommy asked.

"Because Caitlin, Sara and I don't have any combat training whatsoever and you 2 are probably guard detail. The others have powers and experience, they can handle themselves." Cisco said and right at that moment, Thunderstorm flew, an arm wrapped around Black Canary's waist and the other around Spartan as Tsunami followed on her water slide.

"What happened and where's Oliver and Barry?" Caitlin asked.

"They overran STAR labs and the foundry's been compromised to. We managed to get away with about a dozen vials of the cure, and tablet containing the chemical breakdown of it, but not much else." Thunderstorm said.

"If we had the necessary equipment, we could make more with this, but right now we're running on empty." Sara said as she took inventory of the what they'd scrounged from Star Labs.

"Barry and Oliver are getting what you need right now." Tsunami said as the Flash sped in with Green Arrow, who had bag over his shoulder.

"What's in the bag?" Sara asked.

"A miniaturized chemical replicator and synthesizer, along with everything else you'll need to continue producing the cure, courtesy of some experiment miniaturization tech from Ray Palmer." Oliver said as he reached into his bag and pulled stuff out.

"Let's get to work." Sara said as Iris's phone rang.

"Hey, dad, what's up?" Iris asked.

"One of those super soldiers is here at SCPD, tearing up the place. Laurel's dad is hurt bad and he's killing us off. We need backup, now." Joe said.

"Okay, we're on it." Iris said as she hung up.

"What's wrong?" Laurel asked.

"SCPD is under attack. Laurel, Sara, your dad's hurt badly." Iris said.

"Iris, Laurel, get to SCPD and help them out. The rest of us will hold down the fort here until we have enough of the cure to take care of Slade's whole army." Green Arrow ordered and the 2 daughters of cops nodded.

"Give me a lift?" Black Canary asked Thunderstorm.

"Insulted you even have to ask." Thunderstorm.

"I can get you there faster." Flash said.

"No, we need you here in case Thawne tries to make another move at us." Green Arrow said and Flash nodded.

"Let's go." Thunderstorm said.

* * *

The SCPD was getting their asses whooped by the soldier when suddenly, the windows shattered and Black Canary and Thunderstorm leaped through them.

"Hey ugly. Why don't you try to fight someone who can actually fight back?" Black Canary challenged.

"With pleasure. But Deathstroke said to take you to him." the soldier said.

"You're not taking me anywhere." Black Canary said as Thunderstorm zapped him with lightning.

"Serum made you stronger, but it looks like when you zap a mirakuru soldier with lightning, the same thing happens to them that happens to everyone else." Thunderstorm said as she zapped him again.

"You should've brought your fast friend." the soldier said.

"I think we can handle it." Black Canary said as she blasted him with her sonic cry before charging at him and using her smaller stature to give her speed and agility against her opponent, allowing her to quickly to take him down, though that was probably due to the fact that he was still dazed from being struck by lightning twice.

"Thanks for the assist." Joe said.

"No problem, where's Lance?" Thunderstorm asked.

"Follow me." Joe said as he led the 2 vigilantes over to where Lance was barely hanging on.

"We have to get him to a hospital now." Thunderstorm said.

"There's no time. By the time they get him all settled in, he could die. Caitlin and Sara can do it faster." Black Canary said.

"We'd be blowing our cover with him." Thunderstorm said.

"I'd rather lose my cover than lose my father." Black Canary snapped.

"Just making sure you're aware of that. And you can take the blame from Green Arrow." Thunderstorm said.

"Deal." Black Canary said as she picked up her father.

"I'm gonna stay here and see if I can convince Pike that we need to call in the National Guard on this." Joe said and Thunderstorm nodded.

"Stay safe dad." she as she hugged him.

"You to." Joe said.

"No promises." Thunderstorm said with a grin as she flew herself, Black Canary and Lance out of the building.

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking bringing the guy who's been gunning after us for 2 years now to where we were hiding out, exposing us all?" Green Arrow asked his fiance as they watched Sara work to stabilize her father.

"I was thinking I'd already seen you go through losing your father and I'll damned if I'm going to lose mine to." Black Canary said as she took off her mask and Green Arrow removed his and pulled off his hood.

"I know and I'm sorry, I'm just stressed out at the moment." Oliver said.

"For good reason. From what Iris and I saw both ways, the city's in chaos. Slade's soldiers are tearing it apart. Soon there will be nothing but rubble left." Laurel said.

"And let me guess, Blood is not doing anything to stop it. Why can't he see that if Slade's army does his bidding, there won't be a city left for him to lead?" Oliver asked.

"I don't know. But what I do know is that it's going to be one hell of a fight." Laurel said.

"Than maybe I was wrong about something." Oliver said.

"About what?" Laurel asked.

"Waiting to have a normal wedding. John's an ordained wedding minister, so let's just get married now and then have the big ceremony once this all over." Oliver said and Laurel smiled.

"Best idea you've had all day." Laurel said as she kissed him deeply.


	38. Chapter 38

"So, you guys want to get married here, in this clocktower, wearing your supersuits?" Thea asked her brother and Laurel.

"Not so much we want to, but in case we don't make it in the coming fight, we'd much rather be married when it happens." Oliver said.

"Okay, well I will officiate, since, like you said, I am ordained, but we still need a best man and a maid of honor." John said.

"Tommy." Oliver asked, looking at his best friend.

"Of course man." Tommy said.

"Sara." Laurel said, looking at her sister.

"I'm offended you even have to ask." Sara said as their father stirred.

"Is he okay?" Laurel asked.

"He'll be fine, we just need to wait a little while longer until he's strong enough to survive Barry getting him to the hospital." Sara said and Laurel nodded.

"Well, let's get married." Oliver said to Laurel, who looked at him with a grin and nodded as he took her hands in his and they stood across from each other in front of John, Tommy serving as the best man standing to Oliver's left and Sara, the maid of honor, standing to Laurel's right.

"So, for now let's just do the basics and we'll do vows at the actual ceremony after we stop this siege." Oliver said and John nodded.

"Alright then, let's skip to the good stuff. Do you, Oliver Jonas Queen, take Dinah Laurel Lance to be your lawfully wedded wife?" John asked.

"I do." Oliver said.

"And do you, Dinah Laurel Lance, take Oliver Jonas Queen to be your lawfully wedded husband?" John asked Laurel.

"I do." Laurel said.

"Then, by the power vested in me, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." John said as Oliver and Laurel kissed.

"Well, you are now officially Laurel Queen, since you are taking his name aren't?" Thea asked her new sister-in-law.

"I am, but now that we've gotten married, let's go kick some ass." Laurel said with a grin as they all put their masks back on, right as they noticed a drone coming.

"What's going on?" Sara asked.

"Waller. She's never seen a problem she can't solve with a drone strike." Green Arrow growled.

"How would she even know about this?" Black Canary asked.

"Wouldn't surprise me if she has all our facilities bugged." Green Arrow sighed.

* * *

SCPD, where the criminal was making quick work of the police. Joe was thrown across the room, sliding and hitting a door frame as other cops rushed the crazed man. One cop pulled his gun and started firing, but the soldier just shrugged off the bullet hits even as he continued to kill cops with his bare hands. Joe watched from the floor helplessly, then noted where he had been thrown and looked up, seeing a very welcome sign-Weapons and Ordnance-Storage-Authorized personnel only

He staggered to his feet and ran into the room. Moments later he came back out and jumped on the back of the soldier, pulling him off the cop he was beating while at the same time dropping a few things into the collar of his jacket. The soldier threw Joe once again, and he hit another doorframe hard and collapsed out of the room. "Get out!" he yelled to the cops still in the squad room as he looked at the pins in his hand. "Get out! Get out!"

The soldier heard several thunking sounds and looked down at his feet as the three grenades fell from his jacket to the floor. He cocked his head curiously-

And then the grenades exploded, killing him and shattering every window on the floor. Joe sighed in relief even as glass rained down upon him.

* * *

At City Hall, as Blood's staff was in full crisis mode.

"Reports are coming in from all over the city." One man was telling him. "Starling General is preparing for possible casualties."

"Power is out south of Harbor Boulevard." Another reported.

Blood nodded distractedly and turned his attention back to his own phone call. "Governor. Governor. Sending in the National Guard at this point will only cause mass hysteria. Trust me and my police force. We have this situation under control." He said placating, hanging up and watching the news coverage on his office TV.

"Mr. Mayor." A new voice called out to him.

Blood turned and smiled at the new arrival. "D.A. Spencer." He said in greeting.

"What is going on? There are men in masks tearing through the city." She said gesturing at the news.

"Yes, I know." Blood said seriously. "And we're doing everything we can. The SCPD have already mobilized."

"No, the police force, they're not equipped to handle this." Spencer argued. "You don't understand. I have never seen anything like this before. These-the men in masks, it-it's like they're not human." She said.

"Not human? Kate, do you even hear yourself?" Blood asked incredulously. "Look, I know you're scared, but you need to pull yourself together. Starling City needs both of us thinking clearly right now." He told her.

"How are you so calm?" she asked nervously.

"Because I know we're going to get through this." Blood said with all sincerity. "And when we do, Starling City will be stronger and better for it. Can I count on you? I need you with me on this." He told her.

After a moment, Spencer nodded subtly. "Mm-hmm."

Blood smiled. "Good. Then let's save the city together."

* * *

In the SCPD, Joe was taking control of the situation. As the officers loaded up, he brought out a map of Starling City and laid it on an undamaged desk. "Listen up." He said. "We're going to establish a perimeter with check-points at 5th and Adams, a safe zone, you hear me?"

"Who the hell are these guys?" one of the cops asked.

"These guys are the enemy." Joe stated.

Pike walked up to the table, still in shock. "They're attacking innocents at random, creating mayhem and chaos." He said. "We need to put them down!"

"Lieutenant—"

"Now!"

Joe got in his face. "Listen to me, these guys, have you seen them? Huh?" he picked up the burnt, shattered remains of the mask and held it up for him to see. "You seen these guys? They do not go down!" he shouted. "We got to call in the National Guard."

"That's a call for the mayor." Pike said. "And he hasn't made that yet."

And he won't. Mayor Blood let this happen." Joe revealed.

Pike looked at him incredulously. "What?"

"Trust me. Blood's behind this." Joe stated.

"Look, even if I believe you I don't have that kind of authority." Pike said.

"Well, in an emergency, the chief of police does, so get him on the line." Joe pointed out.

"Chief's dead." Pike said, shocking the cops in the room.

Joe sighed. "Well, then," he began. "There's only one more guy we can call." He looked at Pike. "You're not going to like it."

"The Vigilante." He said shortly.

"The Green Arrow." Joe corrected. He moved closer to Pike. "Lieutenant, I know he's breaking the law. But what we're up against, it's not about the law. It's about survival." He said. "We got masks tearing our city to pieces, and we're going to need a mask to stop 'em."

Pike stared at him for a long moment. Finally he sighed. "Make the call." He ordered.

Joe nodded. "Ok, let's do it."

"One more thing," Pike said as the other cops got to work gearing up. "You know more about what's going on over everyone else I got. I need you making decisions and leading these men. And where the hell is Lance?"

"He was hurt in the attack here and 2 of the vigilantes took him to get medical attention." Another officer said and Pike sighed in relief.

"Good. Now, let's get to work." Pike said.


	39. Chapter 39

The team were trying to figure out how to stop the incoming drone strike when Oliver got a call.

"Hello?" He asked.

"How can we help you?" Joe said without preamble.

Oliver paused. "We?"

"The Starling City police force is standing with you on this one." He revealed.

"We need help containing the soldiers." Oliver said at once. "We're working on something and it may stop them but we need more time."

"We can do that." Joe assured him. "Whatever you're doing, good luck. For all our sakes." He hung up, and Oliver hung up, still a bit stunned.

"What's that about?" Black Canary asked.

"That was Joe. SCPD is on our side this time." Green Arrow said.

"Good we can use all the help we can get." Sara said, right as her father woke up.

"What the hell? Where am I?" Lance asked as he looked around.

"Dad, take it easy. You're okay." Sara said trying to calm him down.

"Sara, what the hell is going on here?" Quentin asked.

"The city's under siege. Men in masks are tearing up the city." Black Canary said.

"So why the hell aren't you out there stopping them?" Quentin asked, surprising them all.

"You're not just assuming that we're parts of it?" Green Arrow asked.

"You've spent the past year helping this city. Why would you try to destroy it. I'm not insane." Lance said.

"Fair enough Detective." Green Arrow nodded.

"Now, back to the drone?" Spartan said.

"Cisco, any luck getting me in touch with Waller?" Green Arrow asked.

"With much difficulty, yes." Cisco said, handing him a phone.

* * *

In the A.R.G.U.S. command center, Amanda Waller pulled out her phone and frowned. "How did you get this number?" she demanded.

"Amanda. What are you doing?" he demanded in return.

"I'm not sure what you mean." She hedged coolly.

"Amanda, the troops taking up position at the city's exits- they're not army, they're A.R.G.U.S." Oliver stated. "Those are your men. So you tell me what you're up to." At her silence, Oliver lost his temper. "Amanda!" he roared.

Waller sighed. "Slade's followers are a clear and present danger." She stated. "I cannot allow them to escape the city. They need to be contained… by any means necessary."

Oliver's heart sank. "You can't." he said.

"They're a drone en route carrying six GBU/43-B bombs, enough firepower to level the city." She told him.

"There are over half a million people in this city." Oliver stated.

"576,000." She replied. "None of whom deserve to die. But I have to think about the people in every city. You once told me that Mirakuru made a man virtually unstoppable. What could happen to this country, this world, if I don't end this here and now?" she asked.

"Listen to me. I have the cure." He told her. "I can stop Slade and his men."

"I can't take the chance you'll fail, Oliver." Waller said.

"Amanda, I just need more time." He pleaded.

"I'm sorry." She replied, looking down at her threat board. "You have until dawn. And then Starling City is a crater."

Green Arrow slammed the phone down.

"Waller's plan is to box everyone into the city and destroy it all with a drone strike." Green Arrow growled.

"I'm going to kill her." Black Canary said.

"Get in line. Right now we need to figure out how to stop both the army and the drone strike." Green Arrow said.

"We can help with the first one. We've managed to secure enough of the cure to take out the army." Caitlin said.

"Good, now we just need to find it. We take out the army and then we go after the heads." Green Arrow said.

"Thawne is mine." Flash said.

"Agreed. Just remember to get what you need from him before you kill him." Green Arrow said.

"Will do." Flash said.

* * *

Back at Merlyn Global, Slade stood in front of the windows, looking out over the city as it burned around him. "They say Nero sang as he watched Rome burn." He said. "Now I understand why. If only Shado were here to witness this."

Isabel looked at Slade. "Who's Shado?" she asked.

"What the hell is going on?" Isabel turned to see Blood storming into the office. "One of your juiced-up jack boots just killed my entire office staff, and snapped the district attorney's neck!" he said hotly.

"And?" Slade said, still looking out of the window.

"And?" Blood said. "And I never agreed to this! You were supposed to call off your dogs."

Slade glanced at him. "That was your plan, Mr. Blood, not mine." He said coldly.

"We had a deal." Blood spat.

Slade turned fully towards him. "And do you feel that I've not lived up to my end of it?" he asked threateningly.

"Those are innocent people." Blood said nervously, intimidated by the man's presence. "Dying out there. You do not need to kill them." He said.

"Yes, I do!" Slade roared, causing Blood to jump. "I made a promise to someone once, and I will uphold it."

"So this really is all about you just trying to hurt Oliver Queen." Blood said in realization. Oliver had been right.

"I vowed to him that I would take away everything and everyone he loves." Slade said. "And he loves this city."

"But this city… it's mine, too." Blood argued.

"Not anymore." Slade said quietly. "As of tomorrow night, it'll be nothing but rubble, ash, and death. A land only good for one thing." He turned back to the window. "Graves." He whispered.

* * *

Green Arrow was contemplating his next move when his phone rang and he saw it was Blood.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Same thing you do, Oliver." Blood said from Merlyn Global as he waited for an elevator. "To save this city before it's too late."

"It's already too late." Oliver said bitterly.

"You were right about Slade Wilson." Blood admitted. "I should have listened to you. But I'm here now and I can help you."

"Why should I trust you?" Oliver demanded.

"Because Oliver, I know where Slade Wilson is." Blood said.

"Where?" Green Arrow demanded.

"I'd rather tell you in person, if you don't mind. After all, don't want to give him a chance to move." Blood said.

"You better have what you promised or else Slade will be the least of your worries." Green Arrow said as he hung up and walked over to the others.

"What's going on?" Black Canary said.

"Blood finally saw the light. He's offering us Slade's location, but it has to be in person. I need a lift to city hall." Green Arrow said to Flash, who nodded and before anyone could say anything else, they were gone.


	40. Chapter 40

"So, you're working with the Green Arrow and his cohorts?" Quentin asked Sara.

"It's medical support. They needed a doctor and I just happened to be the only one on hand that they trusted." Sara said.

"And no offense, but why would they trust you?" Quentin asked.

"Because she's family." another voice said and Quentin turned to see Laurel, dressed in the Black Canary suit, minus the mask, walk up to them.

"Wait, Laurel, you're the Black Canary?" Quentin asked.

"Surprise." Laurel said.

"I should've put it together sooner. I don't know how I didn't. So I'm guessing that Oliver is the Green Arrow?" Quentin asked and Laurel just nodded.

"How did this happen?" Quentin asked.

"It's a long story that we really don't have time to tell right now. Once the Flash gets back, he's going to take you to an actual hospital, since Sara and Caitlin were only able to stabilize your condition, it's a miracle you even woke up." Laurel said and Quentin nodded.

"We are going to be having that talk about why you trusted your sister with this and not me. And then I can tell you how proud I am to call you my daughter." Quentin said and Laurel smiled with pride at her father saying that.

* * *

At City Hall, Green Arrow and Flash walked through the darkened halls, carefully stepping over bodies until they reached Blood's office. Oliver switched his bow to his left hand as he entered, absently noting Kate Spencer's body on the floor before seeing Blood standing by the window.

"As a young boy, I was plagued by nightmares." Blood began. "Every night, I would wake up in a cold sweat, frightened and alone. It was my father's face that haunted me." He revealed. He turned, holding the leather skull mask in his hands. "And this is how I saw him. The embodiment of desperation and despair. I made this mask to conquer my fears." He told them, desperate for them to understand. "And remind myself why I fight, every day, to give this city's most desperate a chance. All I ever wanted to do was help people, Oliver.

"Then help me believe." Oliver said. "Where is Slade?"

"He will not rest until he honors the promise that he made you." Blood said, walking up to his desk and setting the mask down.

"I won't be so easy to kill once we level the playing field." Oliver growled.

"He's not interested in killing you." Blood revealed. "Not until he's taken away everything and everyone you love."

"He's already tried and failed." Green Arrow argued.

"Enough, where is he?" Flash asked.

"Merlyn Global. So are Rochev and his version of the Flash." Blood said.

"Thank you Sebastian." Green Arrow said.

"And when this is over, I promise you I will do everything in my power to rebuild Starling City." Blood continued. "And I won't just make it what it was. I will make it better. Like I always planned."

Oliver looked at him in disbelief. "You really think," he started, "After everything that's happened, after what you've done, that they'll still let you be mayor?" he asked.

"Why not? No one knows that I've done anything except try to save this city. And if you tell anyone about my mask, I will tell them about yours." Blood warned.

"Do what you have to, Sebastian." Oliver growled, before turning and walking out of the office.

* * *

"How'd it go?" Black Canary asked.

"Blood gave me Slade's location. Rochev and Reverse Flash are there to." Green Arrow said.

"Flash, can you get my dad to Starling General?" Black Canary asked the speedster, who nodded before zooming away.

"Did you tell him?" Green Arrow asked.

"I did. I mean, not that we're married, that would crush him, but I told him I'm the Black Canary and he pieced together that you're the Green Arrow." Black Canary said.

"At least there's no more lying to him." Green Arrow said and Black Canary nodded.

Suddenly an alarm sounded on Cisco's tablet and they ran over to see what was going on.

"What's that?" Oliver asked.

"Proximity alarm." he said. "I rigged the tower with sensors just in case Slade's goons came here to kill us." he pulled up a thermal imaged that showed over a dozen men rushing up the stairs. "Slade's goons are here to kill us." he told them.

"Battle stations everyone." Green Arrow shouted as he and Tsunami pulled out their bows, Black Canary upholstered her bo staff, Spartan pulled out both of his guns and Thunderstorm prepared to start zapping lightning as the Flash returned.

"You're dad's safe at Starling General and I'm guessing a fight is coming." Flash said.

"Yep, Slade's goons found us." Roy said wryly.

"Get ready." Black Canary said as suddenly the trap door burst open and a masked soldier popped up. Acting on instinct, Roy ran over and slugged the man in the mask as hard as he could

Then staggered back, shaking his hand in pain.

"Forgot I don't have the Mirakuru in me anymore." Roy groaned.

The soldier swept his legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground. Oliver ran over and kicked him in the face, sending the solder falling back down the ladder. He shut the door, but another soldier popped up through the hole that Roy had made previously and grabbed Sara by the ankle. She screamed in panic.

"Sara!" Dig shouted in alarm, running over and shooting the man in the head. Another hand shot out and grabbed Caitlin, and then, as if acting on instinct, Cisco somehow shot some sort of weird blast from his hand.

"What the what?" Caitlin asked as they all briefly looked at Cisco in shock.

"I have no idea. But can we focus on this later." Cisco asked.

Oliver nodded as he ran over to the broken clock face and shot a cable out to the ground. "Down the cable!" he ordered to his team. Roy ran up and grabbed the cable, then slid down to the ground. He was followed by Diggle, who had grabbed the cure. Thunderstorm and Tsunami just used their powers to make a getaway as Flash grabbed Caitlin and ran down the side of the building.

Sara timidly stepped onto the ledge. Another soldier burst through the trap door, so Laurel smashed him in the chest with her staff, jumped up to the ledge, grabbed Sara by the waist, and used her staff to slide down the cable. Lastly, Green Arrow fired an explosive arrow into the air before using his bow to slide down the cable as he heard an explosion.

As they hit the ground, they all looked up to see an A.R.G.U.S. Helicopter swing around the clock tower. The side door opened and a missile was fired, blowing up the clock tower and killing most of the soldiers inside. Lyla Michaels leaned out to survey her work, and Diggle smiled warmly up at his ex-wife.

* * *

After they returned to STAR labs, they found that the place had been completely trashed.

"What happened here?" Roy asked.

"Slade's army." Diggle said. He turned to Oliver. "You were right about this place being compromised."

Oliver turned to Lyla. "Lyla, your boss is going to bomb the city at dawn." He told her.

"Yeah, Waller's never seen a problem she didn't think couldn't be solved with a drone strike." Dig said darkly.

Lyla gave him a look. "Why do you think I'm here?"

Dig looked at her in surprise. "You knew Waller was looking to level the city and you came here anyway?" he asked in wonder.

"You're here." She said simply.

"You need to go back to A.R.G.U.S." Oliver told her. "You need to stop Waller or buy us enough time to stop Slade."

"Not without me." Dig stated. He turned to Lyla. "Till death do us part, right?" he asked with a small smile.

"This time it might." She stated bluntly.


	41. Chapter 41

"So, while John and Lyla are at Argus, what are we going to do?" Laurel asked Oliver.

"We're going to end this. Sara, Caitlin, Cisco, check the armory and grab as many arrows as you can, especially injection arrows and fill them with the cure. Once we cure the army, we can take them out." Oliver said and the 3 of them nodded before leaving the room.

"Slade has at least 50 or so of those human weapons." Diggle noted. "We'll need a whole army if we plan on hitting 'em with the cure."

"I know. Which is exactly what we have. Between me, Laurel, Thea, Barry, Iris, Roy and Tommy, we should have enough. Especially considering Laurel, Thea, Barry and Iris all have powers that can't be taken away by a cure." Oliver said.

"Wait, did you just say us?" Tommy asked, referring to himself and Roy.

Oliver grinned before looking at Cisco who nodded and brought out 2 boxes.

"After all the hard work and training you both have put in over the past year, you've earned the right to fight with the rest of this team." Oliver said as they opened the boxes and each of them pulled out a suit.

The one Roy pulled out looked like basically a red, male version of Thea's suit and Tommy's suit looked like a black version of the Green Arrow suit, plus a scabbard, since Tommy had proven himself to be more adept with a blade then a bow.

"Remember your training. You're ready. Now let's go get these sons of bitches and put them where they belong." Oliver said as he pulled up his hood and went into Green Arrow mode.

* * *

At Merlyn Global, one of Slade's men was patrolling the lobby on the executive floor when the elevator dinged. As the door opened, he looked in curiously at two of his comrades lying on the ground, twitching and unconscious.

Suddenly Black Canary dropped down from the roof of the elevator. He used half of her staff to take the man down to one knee, and then jammed a cure arrow into his other leg. The man dropped to the ground, twitching. She looked around, and then hit her communicator. "Elevator bank's clear."

In the conference room, Oliver made short work of two more soldiers. "Conference room's clear." He replied. He headed into his office, where Laurel joined him from the office lobby. Standing before them was Deathstroke, Isabel, Thawne, and 7 more soldiers.

"You must have quite a bit of faith in this cure if you've come alone." He told Oliver.

"We didn't come alone." Oliver replied as lightning struck outside as the windows shattered and Tsunami, Flash, Thunderstorm, Roy and Tommy all leaped through the windows.

Green Arrow, Tsunami, Roy and Tommy all began firing injection arrows into Slade's men, but they bounced harmlessly off Deathstroke's armor.

"Ravager's mine." Tommy said as he unsheathed his sword and attacked her as Flash and Reverse Flash once again began their old dance and Green Arrow and Black Canary attacked Deathstroke together.

"You honestly think that you can stop me?" Deathstroke asked as his 2 former friends attacked him.

"We did it before." Black Canary reminded him as she blasted him with her cry, but his armor protected him from the brunt of it.

"Damn your suit." she said.

"I was well prepared to deal with your powers Ms. Lance. After all, I taught you how to fight." Deathstroke said as Green Arrow used a flying spin kick, which then sent him out the window. Green Arrow and Black Canary went to look after him, only to see Deathstroke using a cable that had been set up earlier to escape.

"Coward." Black Canary muttered as they turned to see nearly all of Slade's men down, with Tommy still fighting Ravager.

"You really think you can beat me?" Ravager asked, only to be silenced when a black arrow pierced her heart.

"What the hell?" Green Arrow asked as they turned to see none other than the Dark Archer standing in the shadows.

"I believe the words you're looking for are thank you." Malcolm Merlyn said.

"More like why are you here?" Green Arrow asked.

"Same as you. To save my city." Malcolm said.

"Last time you tried to save this city, you nearly destroyed it." Black Canary snarled.

"I also just saved my son's life. That has to give me some credit." Malcolm said.

"It doesn't. You should've stayed away." Green Arrow growled.

"If I had, I'd probably be burying my son next to his mother." Malcolm said.

"We don't have time to argue about this. You want to help, fine, but stay out of our way." Tommy said and Malcolm looked at his son with pride.

"It appears you've proved me wrong Tommy. Perhaps you are my son after all." Malcolm said, taking Tommy's attire into account.

"Like I care." Tommy said.

"Let's move out." Green Arrow said, still resisting the urge to put an arrow in Malcolm to kill him now.


	42. Chapter 42

"How'd it go?" Sara asked as the team reentered Star labs.

"We had a little unexpected run in with my father, but aside from that, Rochev is dead and Slade's army is down by 10 people." Tommy said.

"It's not enough. I can't get close enough to Slade to hit him with the cure." Oliver said.

"So what do we do?" Sara asked.

"Oh, we have a new, big problem." Cisco said suddenly, staring at her tablet. "Which, considering our other ones, is really saying something. I hacked a satellite and tasked it for thermographic imaging- all of Slade's men are gathering at the Giordano Tunnel.' he reported.

"I thought these guys were trying to destroy the city, not escape it." Caitlin said.

"A.R.G.U.S. is going to level the city to stop them from getting out." Oliver told the scientist. "That's what Slade's planning on. He knows Waller's tactics."

"But there is a silver lining." Black Canary said.

"What silver lining?" Tsunami asked.

"It means that Slade's entire army will be in one place, so we can take them down." Green Arrow explained.

"Let's move out then." Flash said.

* * *

At A.R.G.U.S. as Diggle and Lyla made their way stealthy towards the building's side entrance. "Johnny." Lyla said suddenly as they reached the door.

"Yeah?"

She paused, and then shook her head. "Never mind." She said.

"Hey, Lyla." Dig said, putting a hand on her arm. "I love you. You know that, right?" he asked.

She smiled softly at him. "I do, actually. But it's good to hear it."

She swiped her card in the door, unlocking it, and the two made their way into the building.

In the control room, Waller was watching as the drone approached Starling City. "Time to impact?" she asked.

"Drone is 52 minutes out from target." The pilot replied.

"Get me Sergeant Gomez at the Giordano Tunnel." Waller ordered.

The tech tried to raise them, but was unsuccessful. She shook her head. "Uh… Easy Company's not responding, ma'am."

Waller came around her table to the tech's station. "I need a visual." She said urgently.

"They're in a tunnel, ma'am, I can't get a picture." The tech replied.

"What the hell is going on in that tunnel?" she growled.

* * *

The scene changed to the tunnel, where Slade's men were standing over the body of the A.R.G.U.S. soldiers as the tech voice carried on their radios. 'Sergeant Gomez, come in! Sergeant Gomez!' Hearing approaching footsteps, they turned to see who was next.

Back down the tunnel, Green Arrow led a small army consisting of Black Canary, Tsunami, Roy, Flash, Tommy and Thunderstorm. "Make your shots count." He ordered. "Let the cure do its work." The soldiers began running at them. "Ready?" they got closer. "Ready?!" Closer still. "Ready, fire!" he called out just before the soldiers reached them. As one, every archer opened fire, taking out the first wave in moments. The vigilantes rushed in, firing arrows or just stabbing the soldiers with the arrows, taking them out. Tsunami stood off to the side, rapidly firing her cure arrows and gaining an impressive tally. Even Roy was firing arrows, and now that his mind wasn't clouded by the Mirakuru, he found he was a pretty decent shot.

* * *

A.R.G.U.S. Lyla and Diggle walked into the cell block that contained Task Force X and encountered the lone night guard. "Agent Michaels, this area's restricted to all unauthorized—" he never got to finish as Diggle rushed him and grabbed him in a sleeper, putting him out in seconds. He yanked the keys off of his belt and ran to a familiar door, unlocking it before whistling at Lyla and throwing her the keys.

"What the hell is this?" Floyd Lawton asked as he exited his now-open cell. "Early parole?"

"Waller's looking to bomb Starling City." Diggle told him as Lyla started letting other prisoners out. "We need your help to stop her."

"As much as I'd love to show the Wall what we think of her, there's just that little matter of tick, tick, boom! Ok? We've got all that miniature bombs in our spines." Lawton reminded him.

"You have to trust me." Diggle said, handing him his wrist gun. "And Lawton, no dropping bodies." He warned.

"Yeah, sure, take the fun out of it." Lawton replied sourly.

He headed to a door at the far end of the corridor, but Lawton stopped him.

"Ah! Uh-uh." He said, shaking his head. "No. Not her. Trust me."

He glanced through the window to see a pale blonde woman staring at him expectantly. "Come on, chocolate puddin'. Let me out." She pleaded. "I wanna play. I wanna play!"

"Let's move!" Diggle ordered.

"Hey, let me out!" the woman called out as the new Suicide Squad moved to take on The Wall.

* * *

Back in the tunnel, the fight was escalating quickly. Green Arrow took out 3 soldiers with one shot as Black Canary spun her staff as if it was what she was born to do taking out soldiers left and right. Tsunami and Thunderstorm floated above them, Tsunami using her birds eye view to fire cures into every soldier she could find as Thunderstorm just blasted them with more lightning. Tommy and Roy found that they were both decent shots as while none of them were as accurate as Oliver or Thea, they at least managed to hit their targets and finally, the Flash was running all around the tunnel, stabbing syringes filled with the cure into every soldier he saw.

"Iris." He shouted when saw her knocked to the ground.

Thunderstorm reached everywhere, trying to find something to hold off her attacker, since she was too disoriented right now to use her powers, when suddenly, a cure arrow was injected into the soldier's neck, disabling them.

Thunderstorm was surprised at seeing her father standing behind the soldier as he helped her up.

"Need a hand?" he asked.

"Thank you. But you shouldn't be here." Thunderstorm said.

"You forgot that protecting this city is also in my job description." Joe said and Thunderstorm smiled as Joe charged back into the fray as the battle began to come to a close.


	43. Chapter 43

Waller stared at the video screen impassively as the drone approached the city. "Prep the drone to fire." She ordered.

The tech looked back at her in surprise. "Weapons hot was set for oh-six hundred." She reminded her boss.

"Prep the drone to fire!" Waller snarled angrily. Suddenly gunshots could be heard down the hall. Waller ducked down behind the table, opening a hidden compartment and withdrawing two guns as a pair of agents rushed out into the hall and were immediately incapacitated.

Moments later Deadshot, Diggle and Lyla burst into the room, their weapons trained on the people inside just as Waller popped back up, her guns aimed right back at them. "Down, now!" Lawton ordered. "Everybody get down, down, down!"

"Waller, call that drone off!" Diggle ordered.

Waller ignored him and focused on her second in command. "This is treason, Agent Michaels." She noted. "Treason that risks hundreds of thousands of lives. Have you thought about that? Have you thought about how you're going to explain that to your son?" she asked, stunning both Lyla and Diggle for different reasons. "Or is it your daughter? Did doctors specify, or did you want to keep it a surprise?" she looked over at Dig. "Congratulations, Mr. Diggle, you're going to be a father."

* * *

Green Arrow jumped on top of a cab to survey the scene around him, and noted in satisfaction that Slade's army had been defeated. As the rest of the team finished cleaning up, a call came through on his comms. "Go!" he said, activating it.

"You've been busy, kid." Slade said on the other end.

"It's over Slade. Your army's been broken!" Green Arrow said.

"And while I pity them, you and I still have unfinished business." Slade said.

"Tell me where you are and I'll finish it." Green Arrow said.

"Better yet, I'll bring you to me." Slade said and before Green Arrow could say anything else, there was a whisk of red lightning and he then found himself in a processing plant.

"Little more warning next time." he groaned.

"Twitch, and I will open your throat." Slade's voice called out, echoing through the space and causing Oliver to draw an arrow. "My first words to you. Do you remember? I do. I remember the exact moment. My blade against your neck."

"You should've killed me then and spared us all the trouble." Green Arrow growled.

"Agreed. But I didn't. And now I'm going to rectify that mistake. Even if you haven't lost all you care about like I promised, I'm sure your death by my hand will be equally satisfying. Especially when I tell your wife you died, right before I put my sword through her heart." Slade's voice said.

"You stay away from her. From all of them." Green Arrow snarled, trying to keep Slade distracted.

"You can't stop me kid." Slade said.

"If you're so sure about that, than why don't you come out and face me instead of hiding like a coward." Green Arrow said, purposefully trying to bait Slade to show himself and he did, dressed in his Deathstroke gear.

"I've spent countless nights dreaming of taking from you all that you took from me." Deathstroke said.

"By killing the woman I love?" Oliver asked.

"Yes."

"Like you love Shado."

"Yes." Slade replied quietly.

"You see her." Oliver realized. "Don't you?"

"Well, what does she look like in your madness, Slade?" he asked harshly as Slade stared off to a point behind Oliver, staring at the woman he loved. "What does she say to you? I remember her being beautiful." Oliver continued. "Young. Kind. She would be horrified by what you've done in her name." he spat.

"What I have done?" he stared at Oliver now. "What I have done is what you lack the courage to do!" he yelled. "To fight for her!"

"She wouldn't have wanted this Slade. You know that." Green Arrow said.

"How could you know what she wanted, she's dead because of you." Deathstroke growled.

"I already know how you feel." He told him. "I know what it's like to hate. To want revenge." He stared at Slade confidently. "And now I know how it feels to see my enemy so distracted, he doesn't see the real danger is right in front of him."

Before Deathstroke could respond, there was a Flash of yellow lightning that dropped Black Canary off in time for her to do a pretty insane flip and jammed a syringe filled with the cure into his neck, causing Deathstroke to cry out in pain.

"What the hell?" he asked.

"You should've known the Flash and I would follow. You played right into our trap. Exposing your location and then not making sure Thawne wasn't followed or disabling the tracker in Oliver's suit. Sloppy Slade. The Mirakuru seemed to have dulled your skills. Or maybe you just got overconfident. Either way, it was your undoing." Black Canary said as she stood next to her husband.

"I don't need the Mirakuru to kill you." Deathstroke said.

"At least now it's a fair fight." Green Arrow said as he picked up his bow and attacked.

* * *

"Very clever Flash. Tricking Deathstroke. But I won't be so easy to take down." Reverse Flash said as his old enemy sped up to him.

"Let's end this once and for all Thawne." Flash said.

"Not yet. I still need you if I'm going to get home." Thawne said.

"Fat chance. The only place you're going is into a cell in your own pipeline." Flash said.

"Only if you can catch me." Reverse Flash said as he sped off with the Flash right behind him.

The 2 speedsters slugged it out through all of Starling City and into the SCPD where the Flash got an idea, in front of all the other officers and security cameras.

"It's the Flash." Eddie said as the Flash came to a stop and Reverse Flash did the same thing.

"And the man in the yellow suit. Just like Barry said he saw the night his mother died." Joe said, looking over at Singh, who couldn't believe his eyes.

"Allen was telling the truth. His father really was innocent." Singh said, looking at Pike, who nodded.

"About damn time they realized it." Flash muttered.

"Well played Flash." Reverse Flash said.

"Not yet Wells." Flash said as he sped towards his enemy, pushed him against the wall and practically tore off his mask.

"Harrison Wells is the man in Yellow?" Pike said as all the cops pulled off their masks.

"Not quite. And this is not over yet Flash." Wells, or well, Thawne said as he put his mask back on and sped off.

"Go." Joe said to the Flash, who nodded and followed Reverse Flash in hot pursuit.

* * *

Back at the plant, Deathstroke was currently battling Green Arrow and Black Canary, but without the Mirakuru, he'd lost his edge in battle, since while he could still hold his own, the duo were stronger than he was, but he found an opening.

"The Mirakuru isn't what made me hate you!" Slade yelled, blocking a punch and grasping Oliver by the throat with one hand.

He started choking Oliver, looking up as he saw the drone fly by overhead. "The end is near." He told a groaning Oliver. "But maybe I'll be merciful enough to let you live and see your city burn!" he roared.

Slade stalked over to Oliver and Laurel and kicked him hard in the ribs, sending him flying across the room before tossing her over to join him…

Oliver and Slade both lay on the roof, exhausted and hurting, "We both know there's only one way that this can end." Slade said with a groan. "To beat me, kid, you're going to have to kill me." He said. Both men staggered back to their feet. "But in the moment of my death, you'll prove one thing- that you are a murderer." He said with glee. Both men charged on another once more…

Oliver kicked Slade off the roof, and then followed him down to the ground. Slade staggered to his feet, his sword at the ready as Oliver moved in. Exhausted, he took a wild swing with his bow, that Slade dodged. Slade, exhausted as well, hit Oliver with a wild haymaker, then another, staggering Oliver backwards. He then lunged at Oliver, his sword aimed at his heart, but Oliver blocked the sword, swinging away, and then drawing and firing a pair of bolo arrows, tying Slade to the cement column.

Oliver staggered, wounded and exhausted. "You can kill me, or not." Slade said tiredly. "Either way, I win."

* * *

Back at A.R.G.U.S. Confident despite the guns trained on her, Waller moved to order the missile strike when Oliver's voice came over the comms.

"Amanda, it's over." Oliver said to her surprise. "Slade's down, his army's been taken out. Call back the drones." He ordered. "Amanda, it's over!" he roared when she didn't respond.

In A.R.G.U.S. , Waller slowly disarmed herself, then hit the button to abort the strike. Over in Starling City, the drone suddenly banked as it moved to return to base.

As the refinery, Slade sighed in defeat. "So what now, kid?" he asked.

"Good question." Black Canary said, looking over at her husband who just looked at his old friend in pity.

"I'm not going to kill you, not because you were my friend, but because death would be too kind for all the pain you've caused." Green Arrow growled as he punched Slade in the face knocking him out cold.

* * *

Reverse Flash had nearly escaped the city when suddenly, his speed started to give out.

"No, not now." Reverse Flash said as he stumbled to a stop in front of the Flash.

"I never needed to beat you. I just had to keep you using your speed until it gave out." Flash said smugly as he quickly cuffed Thawne in a pair of anti power cuffs.

"You win Flash." Thawne said.

"You're right. I do win." Flash agreed as he speed punched Thawne into unconsciousness.


	44. Chapter 44

It was several days later when Slade Wilson finally awoke with a gasp. The first thing he realized was that he was in drab prisoner clothing; the second was that he was in a cell. "Where am I?" he gasped out. Slowly he pulled himself to a sitting position, and saw that, seated on the other side of the bars, was Oliver Queen and Laurel Lance.

"As far away from the world as we could get you." Oliver replied. "Where you can't hurt anyone ever again."

"That's your weakness, kid." Slade said, stiffly rising to his feet. "You don't have the guts to kill me."

"No. I have the strength to let you live." Oliver argued.

"And the restraint to keep us from becoming monsters like you did Slade. You chose to hurt people. Live with that for the rest of your life." Laurel said.

"Oh, you're both killers." Slade said. "I know, I created you both. You've each killed plenty." He said, pacing his new home.

"Yes, we have." Oliver agreed. "You helped turn us into killers when we needed to be ones. And we're both alive today because of you. We made it home because of you. And we got to see our families again." He was silent for a moment. "But over the past year, I've needed to be more… and I faltered." He admitted. "But then I stopped you. Without killing." He rose and moved to the cell. "You helped me become a hero, Slade. Thank you." He said sincerely.

"You helped both of us become heroes. And I honestly hope that maybe, once you've had time to get that drug completely out of your system, that the man that was once our hero will still exist. But until then, enjoy incarceration." Laurel said as she walked away.

"You think I won't get out of here?" Slade growled, shaking the bars as Oliver walked to the door. He opened it to reveal the seal of A.R.G.U.S. "You think I won't kill those you care for?" he demanded.

"No, I don't." Oliver said, glancing at Slade one more time. "Because you're in purgatory." He walked out and closed the door.

I keep my promises, kid." Slade yelled. "I keep my promises! I keep my promises." Oliver let him yell as he climbed the ladder outside the door, opening the hatch and stepping out onto the top of the concrete bunker that had been built on Lian Yu. He let the hatch close with a resounding thud, and then climbed down to join Laurel and Diggle on the beach.

"I'd kind of forgotten how beautiful it is here." Laurel said as she took a look at the place that had been their home for 5 years.

"So you think that'll be enough to hold him, A.R.G.U.S.' Supermax?" Diggle asked.

"Him, and anyone else we send here." Oliver replied. "This battle may be over, but there will be others. There always are. What's the status back home?"

"Tommy and Sara are already working with Walter to get back Merlyn Global. Star Labs is under repair and there's talk about it being bought out by QC." John said.

"My dad's condition has been stabilized at Starling General and while he's alive, he now has a heart condition, which means his days as a detective are over, though Pike is talking about promoting him to Captain." Laurel said.

"Thawne is locked up in a specially designed cell built by Cisco and Argus in a location that only they and Barry know." John said.

"Blood's affiliation with Slade has been revealed and your mother has been appointed acting mayor due to her overwhelming support she had before dropping out of the race and I have been asked to take over for Kate Spencer as the new DA." Laurel said.

"And the city is starting to recover from the attack, though it seems that crime has gone up exponentially since the siege, since plenty of people are taking advantage of the chaos in the city these days." John said.

"Sounds like we'll have our hands full when we get back to town." Oliver said.

"After our honeymoon of course. After this past year, we need it." Laurel reminded him.

"Of course, but remember, before we can have a honeymoon, there's something else we need to have first." Oliver reminded her as they walked towards the plane.

They walked down the beach towards Diggle. "Dig, what was the news about you and Lyla?" Oliver asked.

"It can wait." Dig said, rising form the log he was sitting on.

"I'm flying." Oliver called.

"Be my guest. But if you spent five years on this island, when did you learn how to fly a plane?" Dig asked.

"My dad loved vintage planes and he used to take me up all the time and eventually, after months of what felt like begging, he taught me how to fly." Oliver answered simply and John nodded.

* * *

2 weeks later, Oliver was wearing a tux and standing in a church next to John, preparing for what had finally arrived. His and Laurel's actual wedding day.

Standing to his left was Tommy, who again was serving as the best man, with Roy standing to Tommy's left and Barry standing to Roy's. On John's right stood the maid of honor, Sara, and to right stood the bridesmaids, Thea and Iris.

On Oliver's side of the aisle sat his mother, Walter, Lyla. Maseo, Tatsu, Akio, Cisco, Caitlin, her fiance Ronnie Raymond (while Oliver, John and Laurel were on Lian Yu, the rest of the team had managed to split and stabilize Firestorm back into Ronnie Raymond and Professor Martin Stein), Professor Stein, his wife Clarissa and their daughter Lily, Ray Palmer, and some of Oliver's other old friends and members of the Queen Cares foundation.

On Laurel's side sat her mother, Joanna, Adam Donner, Cecile Horton, Joe Anastasia, other members of the DA's office and other members of CNRI.

When the music started playing, Oliver smiled as he watched his wife come walking down the aisle arm and arm with her father, this time she was wearing a beautiful white dress and he smiled when they reached the altar.

"Don't screw things up with her." Quentin muttered to Oliver.

"I'll die before that happens." Oliver said in response and Quentin smiled at him as he handed his daughter off to him before going to take a seat next to his ex-wife.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the nuptials of Oliver Jonas Queen and Dinah Laurel Lance. At this point, I'll go into a bit of background about the couple. While I may not have known what their story was prior to the island, but from what it's clear that these 2 have gone through incredible hardships that no one else in this room could even begin to comprehend. And yet it was their love for each other that got them through it. It was their love that even when things seemed pointless, kept them moving. It was their love that kept them alive. So now, just for the sake of asking it, I must ask that if anyone should see a reason as to why these 2 perfect souls should not be wed, please speak now or forever hold your peace." John said and no one spoke up, which was good considering that even though no one knew it, the couple in question was already married.

"Oliver, please begin your vows to Dinah." John said and Oliver nodded, but he didn't pull anything out, since while he actually written a 40 page long vow to Laurel, he'd discarded it and decided to just speak from his heart.

"Laurel, as everyone here knows, I could never really just settle for one girl. At least I couldn't until you came around. You are the one who convinced me to turn my life around. You brought out the best in me. And I do not think, no, I know that I would not have been able to survive that island without you. During that time, the only thing that's constant in my life and still is, are my feelings for you. It was my love for you that kept me going. I knew that you needed me to be strong when you couldn't be and you knew when I needed you to be strong. You know me better than I know myself sometimes and that is just one of the many reasons that I love you, but I don't think we have time for me to go into them all, so I'll just end with this. Laurel Lance, you are the one thing in my life that I know that I cannot live without and I love you with all my heart and I promise to always remain faithful to you as your husband." Oliver said and he could tell by the tears in her eyes that he'd said all the right words to her.

"Dinah, please recite your vows to Oliver." John said and Laurel nodded as she pulled out her vows and to read.

"Oliver, our relationship is, suffice it to say, complicated at the very least, but if there is one thing that is not complicated, it's my love for you. The hell we went through together would've been worse for me if you hadn't had been there by my side throughout all of it. You showed me before anyone else the kind of man you really are, the man that I fell in love with. You're kind and sweet and loving. I can't believe that you were ever the way you once were. But even back then, I knew one thing that has only grown stronger over the years and that is that I love you with all my heart and I cannot without you in my life. You are the most important person in the world to me and I promise to always remain faithful to you as your wife." Laurel said.

"The rings please." John said and both Tommy and Sara presented rings.

"Oliver, do you take Dinah Laurel Lance to be your lawfully wedded wife for as long as you both shall live?" John asked.

"I do." Oliver said.

"Then place the ring on her finger and say, with this ring, I be wed." John said and Oliver nodded.

He placed the arrow shaped emerald wedding ring onto Laurel's right ring finger and said "With this ring, I be wed."

"And do you Dinah, take Oliver Jonas Queen to be your lawfully wedded husband for as long as you both shall live?" John asked.

"I do." Laurel said.

"Then place the ring on his finger and say with this ring, I be wed." John said and Laurel nodded.

She then placed the matching emerald ring onto Oliver's right ring finger and said "With this ring, I be wed."

"By the power vested in me, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife, you may now," John said, but Oliver and Laurel couldn't even wait for him to finished as they kissed passionately, "Continue kissing the bride." John said with a smile as everyone watched as the 2 lovers finally parted.

"I introduce to you all, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Queen." John said happily as the married couple looked on happily at their friends and family, wondering their future was heading next.


	45. Chapter 45

Epilogue:

Over the next few years, Oliver and Laurel continued to protect their city and lead their team as the Green Arrow and the Black Canary. They stopped numerous attacks on their city, including, about a year after the siege, they stopped Damien Darhk from launching a campaign that would've wiped out all life on earth and they stopped the Throwing Star Killer, Prometheus, the son of one of their earliest targets, Justin Clayborne, from killing everyone they cared about.

During their final battle with Prometheus, Slade proved himself to be an ally and friend to Oliver and Laurel once again, since once the Mirakuru was out of his system, proved himself to be a friend again, much to Oliver and Laurel's relief.

After dealing with Prometheus, Laurel soon discovered that she was pregnant and retired from vigilantism while Oliver continued his crusade, even after she had given birth to a girl, who'd they named Shado Moira Queen, in honor of their fallen friend and had actually named Slade as her godfather, since he'd proven himself trustworthy and he absolutely dotted on his goddaughter, who was very taken with him, though John was assigned to be Shado's backup godfather in case Slade ever went crazy again.

When Shado was 3, Oliver and Laurel had discovered that she'd inherited her mother's powers, much to their displeasure.

* * *

After the siege, John and Lyla had a daughter who'd they'd named Sara, since Sara Lance had actually been the one who did the delivery and Oliver and Laurel were named Sara's godparents. They'd also gotten remarried.

While they were dealing with Darhk, John discovered that his brother Andy was still alive and a traitor and despite his best efforts to reform his brother, John ended up shooting his brother after Andy betrayed the team to Darhk and nearly got Laurel killed.

* * *

Sara was the one who caught the bouquet at Oliver and Laurel's wedding, which led to her and Tommy getting married about 6 months later. Sara also insisted on Laurel training her to become a vigilante as well, since she hated that everyone else was always risking their lives to protect her and the other support staffs, eventually taking on the codename, the White Canary.

Tommy had chosen his codename to be Wizard, primarily just because his last name was Merlyn.

* * *

Roy had chosen Arsenal as his codename and he and Thea had gotten married about a year after the siege and now they had a son, Robert Roy Harper, who was actually named after Roy's father, not Roy, but they had the same name, so it just worked and Robert had also inherited his mother's water powers.

* * *

Barry and Iris got married in 2017 and now had a daughter named Nora Francine Allen and she had both her father's speed and her mother's weather powers. Iris had discovered that she had a brother named Wally, who later became a speedster named Kid Flash.

Cisco had learned how to more efficiently use his developing powers to create breaches to other universes, etc.. and was now the superhero called Vibe and was now dating another viber from Earth 19, Gypsy.


End file.
